College Hockey: Women hockey vanishing in Delhi University

Women hockey is vanishing fast from Delhi university curriculum. If proof of that is needed, number of entries for this academic session inter-college women hockey competition being played at Janki Devi College, is enough indication. Of the 80 affiliated colleges with University of Delhi, 40 actively participate in different sports discipline in the inter-collegiate competitions.

But in the ongoing inter-college women hockey competition only eight colleges had entered team.
What was more disheartening, two colleges–Daulat Ram and SRCC– played truant, and only six teams are vying for top honours. Participating teams are–Janki Devi College, Viveknand College, Jesus & Mary, SGTB College, Kalindi College and Indra Gandhi Institute of Physical Education and Sports Sciences (IGIPESS).

Dismay participation apart, participating teams were not very skillful, indicating declining standard in one of the prestigious university of the North. That too right under the nose of Association of Indian Universities (AIU) office that has ample funds for the development of sports at the university level.

Talking of funds, even University of Delhi has adequate funds.
Sudershan Pathak, head of the coordination committee responsible for conducting the tournament agreed of falling participation as well as skills, but expressed satisfaction over the fact that university has good team. “There may be less participation in the tournament, but good players will come for the selection trials for varsity team,” she said.

JS Naruka, head of the Delhi University Sports Council, was more candid, saying performance is not very encouraging “If university team is among the top four in the inter varsity zonal tournament, it’s a big achievement for us,” he said.

In one of the league matches between Jesus & Mary and IGIPESS, the teams dished out poor hockey. More over the contest was marred with protest, and IGIPESS team members walked out of ground questioning umpire‘s decision when Nandita Dhingra converted on rebound in the second half. But after a brief halt, the match resumed again. Final score was 1-1 each. Earlier,

Gursharan Kaur scored for JMC.

Final league match will be played on October 23.