Its always pleasure to watch, and then sit with them and discuss; such pleasant things happen whenever one covers junior tournament. The players are new, excited about themselves, their views on men and matters are original, their thought and action are pure delight, unlike a hardened hockey player they will become in later years where things wil be sought to hide, and words manufactured.

The recent visit to Johor Bahru was in this respect another wonderful and fulfilling moment. Despite our ‘Open’ trials, and coaches’ hassles that preceded before Mukesh Kumar again re-appeared on the scene as Chief Coach, there have been great occasions on the field that reminded that Indian hockey is still alive and kicking. There are some boys who, with a bit more tuning and polishing, will become our stars. At the same time, one point cannot be overlooked.

This is this writer’s third visit to Johor Bahru. A 4-Nation test tournament and a leg of lasst Junior World Cup were held since this beautiful, multicultural city sported a synthetic turf in 2008. Indian colts were part of all these three tournaments. I happen to see different set of players in each outing, almost. There was some continuity in the first two engagements but the problem was majority of those juniors were lost somewhere in our political labyrinth, not made it to the next grade, and the reasons thereof are not merit, whim and fancy of new coaches who come and go like visitors to a beach playing a big role.

Therefore, it is not sure this bunch will ever be the future of Indian hockey, but at the same time this tinge of reality should not cloud the stars who were seen in the making at Taman Daya stadium.

Forward Malak Singh catches our eyes. The Namdhari boy is wonderful with enormous energy and ability. Mostly, he played as a centre-forward, in later stages as a winger. Has good ball control, and can weave past at least three chasers. He is confident that makes him apart from others. Very much useful inside the circle, comes out penalty corners at least. Malaysia rightly targeted him — a strategy to provoke and upset his rhythm. He fell pray. He should have cooler nerves, which can come only when the whole team plays a disciplined hockey. Till the last day he was topping the scorer’s list with five goals, but his role in getting the attack going, and earning penalty corners were more important. He is also a proven stopper in penalty corner drills.

Both goalkeepers are good. Nothing separates them. Harmanpreet Singh manned the goal except major part in the first and last matches. Mukesh Kumar believed him, he did not let him down. Naveen Kumar, having been in the senior camp, was the first choice goalkeeper, and was played in the first match. The team conceded six goals in the second half of the first match, to Korea. Mukesh, instead of setting the whole defence and goalkeeping right for next matches, targeted this poor boy. He did not play him at all till Harmanpreet had his own off day (purely from Mukesh’s point of view) in the bronze match. Naveen not only saved at least three sure goals, but also a stroke. It’s amazing resilence in the light of Mukesh’s questionable analytics. Its good we have two equally good goalies waiting to fill up future gap.

Amit Rohidas seems to a good defender in the making. He is cool, composed and a good tackler. Has a decent build too. He made some daring charges during penalty corners. Stout Samapth Kumar lost out to Harpreet Singh in terms of time and chances he got on the field. The defender was going good with penalty corners, but somehow Mukesh did not believe in him. He is good tackler and clear defender, doesn’t hang around in the circle. The third defender Harpreet Singh is both maverick and eccentric. He commands and asserts, but fails to deliver on matching terms. But in some matches, he showed some class in defence; inconsistent and intemperate. He was average in penalty corners, but got lion’s share in taking.

Midfielder Pradeep Mor of Haryana is a bundle of energy. Very subtle, cool, very good at setting up goal-bound moves; seems to be a long term prospect. He weaves past many, and is a delight to watch when on motion.

On the other hand, Gurinder Singh is a good prospect as a defending left-half. He is impressive with neat tackles. At centre-half was Devinder Walmiki, one of the experienced players having seen action in Burma, and also in a foreign club. His energy and enterprise is seen to be believed. All rounder to the hilt, he was omnipresent on the field. With a bit more accuracy, he could have even scored crucial goals. A leadership material, has to shed the habit of running to umpires on a drop of hat. He needs to strategize his game, wants to be an attacking midfielder or defending one?

M. Gunasekar, a centre-forward, is fast and piercing. Has a good ball and game sense. He set up a few goals for others. Probably, he should have been given more time on the field to exploit his talent. Talwinder and Satbir Singh on the flanks were good. Satbir Singh controls the movements well, a ball player variety. Ramandeep Singh is fast, purposeful, and quick on rebounds. Ramandeep is a good scorer, controls moments, and can pep up attack. He is purposeful inside the circle.

Mukesh did not give enough space for Timmaiah, Sukhdev Singh, Jarmanpreet Singh (youngest of the lot), and to some extent Ranjit Singh. They came for short spells; difficult to assess them in the light of the above fact. Ranjit got full match after Talwinder Singh was suspended, and came good.

These youngsters, despite poor coaching, and short time together in camp, and having played no practice game in Johor Bahru before the main event started, played some wonderful games, especially against Australia, New Zealand and Pakistan. Better let us don’t go by the scoreboard numbers to assess their true potential. They could have easily defeated Malaysia, and deserved to be in the final thus, but fell to a superior strategy of their rivals. The youngsters needed good counseling at every stage which was in short supply in Johor Bahru. They caught the eyes of many, but their body language on the field vis-à-vis umpires were bad. However, this cannot take away the raw talent they possess.