Post Rio disappointment, Indian hockey marched ahead with wins in Dhaka, Kuantan and Singapore and finally capped it with Junior World Cup crown in Lucknow. Need of the hour now is to tread a cautious path so that the fruits of success blossom into a more meaningful feats this year.
The Indian men’s Junior team, delivered the world cup after 15 years, reminiscent of Hobart 2001, where the likes of Jugraj Singh, Gagan Ajit, Prabhjot Singh, Deepak Thankur dazzled.
This hasn’t been an easy journey for the team as the team have only been together for about 2/3 years, having the task of winning the world cup on home soil.
Head coach Harendra Singh, who with his support team have brought together a group of players and turned them into a very strong unit on and off the field, lead by captain Harjeet Singh, building a strong team spirit on and off the field key to any successful team.
The team, amongst the fittest in world hockey, proved that with each game, they are to able match the European and Australian teams, and having played to a structured plan set out coach Harendra Singh and Roelant Oltmans, from the onset the the mantra by Harendra was ‘Simple Hockey’, this formula was the key to the teams success.
The team played with belief and control, working for each desire to win and they did not show the usual ‘weakness’ with Indian teams by not panicking after conceding an early goal, which normally will set off the alarm bells in the team. I am not saying it was a perfect performance, there where mistakes like poor short corner conversions, the forwards coming up with goals and yes, missing chances.
What Next? The junior’s have set a mark by winning the world cup, they have surely given the head coach of the senior squad food for thought and players in the senior squad cannot think that they can or have the right to be selected without looking over their shoulder without fearing for their positions in the squad. A few players have played in the senior squad, and have given a good account of themselves i.e Harmanpreet.
India needs to look at integrating members of this squad into the senior squad, as other teams will do this, to develop the teams with an eye on the 2018 World Cup and 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. The hope is that these players are given the chance to prove themselves, selection has to be on merit for the team to be a success.
To rate the players would be unfair, as each player give their all in each game, when someone didn’t perform there was always someone who stepped up to deliver a performance, even if they didn’t get adjudged man of the match, this was about the team winning.
Final note, on our out to Raipur last year for the world league final’s, Harendra Singh was on the same flight, and he ‘promised that this team will be on the podium to lift the world cup’ ‘that is a promise’, promise kept!.
INDIAN HOCKEY’S WINNING STREAK POST RIO
Indian U18’s winning in Dhaka.
Indian Senior men’s winning the Asian Champions Trophy, defeating Pakistan twice, to claim the trophy for the second time winning the trophy back in 2011.
Indian Women’s team after Rio, produced an outstanding performance to claim their first champions trophy.