‘Day of regaining lost glory not far’

TIRUCHI: Hockey, the national game of the country, has been slowly loosing sheen, lament the well wishers of the game. The country’s hockey team, which once ruled the whole world, has not been able to taste big success for long. Many are of the firm view that Indian hockey will not be able to come to the top once again.

“This is not the end of the road. The Indian hockey has a bright future and the days of its revival and India regaining glory at the international level are not far away”.

These reassuring and confident words come from not a common man, but from Charles Cornelius, hockey Olympian.

The game has not died down. The game could be revived easily with proper planning, training and above all creating facilities, a confident Cornelius who was part of the Indian team that won silver in the 1973 Amsterdam World Cup. Universities proved the major grooming centres to the Indian hockey team till very recently.

Former renowned stars like Ajitpal Singh; B. P. Govinda; Muneer Sait; V. Baskaran; Zafar Iqbal; Inamur Rahman; Inder Singh and Cornelius etc were all straight from the University to the national duty.

All the above stalwarts were picked during the inter-university matches, for which top importance was attached. All the above were in the national reckoning at the age of 18 and 19 years.

This was possible due to facilities provided in the Universities. Importance should also be accorded to the school level hockey tournaments. The University and school level hockey associations should be affiliated to the national body of the game.

This link is missing now and proves costly, complains Cornelius, who was a member of the bronze medal winning Indian team in the 1972 Munich Olympics.

Due importance should be accorded to the grass root level hockey tournaments and the under 14 years, under 16 and under 18 tournaments should be conducted in a fitting manner.

The district level league and inter-district tournaments too should be conducted on a regular basis. Such initiatives will enable in identifying the right talent.

Referring to the present day hockey, Cornelius is of the view that the game is being played at a very fast pace and it is ‘power hockey’ today. Only youngsters will be able to cope up with the game, as it needed more endurance, strength, speed and power.