India’s junior Asia Cup victory has rekindled hopes of the national game’s revival, but for experts, caution is the word

AS India beat South Korea on Friday to defend their junior Asia Cup title, they have also made the next year’s junior World Cup to be played in Malaysia and Singapore. And with this, parallels are being drawn with the bunch of colts that had won the world title back in 2001 and went on to power the senior team to four titles in 2003-04 – the most successful period for Indian hockey in recent times. So, can this present lot help revive Indian hockey’s fortunes?

It is important to put Friday’s win into perspective, and coach AK Bansal is doing just that. “The victory is a huge thing for us, especially coming as it did against some strong opposition such as Pakistan and Korea, but now we are looking forward. The biggest gain is Diwakar Ram coming of the age. He remained calm and delivered the winning goal under intense pressure. We can now hope to battle it out against the best teams in the world,” he added.

Counting the positives This team is teeming with talent. Players such as skipper Gurbaj Singh, who came into the spotlight after replacing Viren Rasquinha for the 2006 Asian Games, have proved themselves time and again. The defence is solid and the midfield capable of creating chances aplenty. But more than individual brilliance, it is the team effort that kindles hope.

In this tournament, there wasn’t any characteristic slack towards the end. How often do we see an Indian team bouncing back in the last 10 minutes from a two-goal deficit to win?

The establishment has been quick to label the win as the beginning of the “revival of Indian hockey”. IOA president and chairman of the ad-hoc committee Suresh Kalmadi has said that the win “marks the revival of Indian hockey” and has chalked out a roadmap for the talented bunch”.

Note of caution BUT the road ahead isn’t all that smooth and there are concerns that need to be addressed. As Olympian Jagbir Singh put it: “When we played the junior World Cup qualifier in 1985, we went on to represent the country for almost a decade. The next big wave came in 2001 but that bunch has but disappeared from the scene now.

“So, it depends on how the talent is utilised. I hope this team is not meddled with too much in the name of experimentation we cannot afford that anymore – and that there is a development team formed which will give a stage for some of the senior boys from this team to get ready before joining the senior level,” he said.