Is it the end of the road for Asian hockey?
S. Thyagarajan
Chennai: As images flipped across the screen signalling the ecstasy of the Germans and the agony of the Spaniards there must have been a speck of anguish in the minds of many hockey aficionados. This cannot be construed as the result of envy of two European powers fighting for the men’s gold in the Olympics but from the realization of the status and state of Asian hockey.
The depths to which the once soul and spirit of competitive hockey have descended into at Beijing cannot but cause concern to the connoisseurs across the sub-continent.
Once the masters who elevated the elements of the sport into an aspect of aesthetic delight sharing as many as 11 championship medals between 1928 to 1984, the withering away of India and Pakistan is nothing but traumatic.
A mirage
That the torch-bearers have been dislodged by the Koreans, who picked up a silver at Sydney just eight years ago after almost threatening to dethrone the defending champion, the Netherlands, will symbolize the Asian ethos, is again proving to be a mirage.
The Koreans perhaps have added a new definition to inconsistency losing to Britain and tumbling to the sixth place. At the last World Cup in Monchengladbach, the Koreans indicated that they are the team to beat at Beijing.
If India failed even to make the grade to be part of the elite at Beijing for the first time in six decades, the performance of Pakistan, which qualified as the third team from the Asian Games at Doha, is more pathetic.
The three-time gold medallists slipped down to its worst rating — eighth — in the Olympics since the debut in 1948. Every affliction Indian hockey suffers from is perceived to be present in Pakistan’s administration of the sport.
That the current president, Zaffarullah Khan Jamali, a former Prime Minister, is on the chopping block after the Beijing fiasco matches the script we are accustomed to here.
Ailments
Why Europe today has achieved this stranglehold is best discussed in the context of what ails Asian hockey. The element of rhetoric in the question notwithstanding, the answer lies in an in-depth study of the factors that impede growth.
Comparatively speaking, competitions in Asia are few, and even they lack the element of consistency and professional programming.
Europe has gained remarkably from the successful conduct of EHL under the European HC with lucrative sponsorship. Such a thing has not even thought off in this continent.
True, it is not easy launch such a venture given the logistics of accommodation and travel. But there has to be some effort to get the Asian teams into competitions mode rather than leaving each country to conduct its own.
The PHL has been one good step in this direction but it is yet to take off to a stage to be portrayed as fulfilling the real requirement.
The Asian countries stand isolated because the sub-continent is no longer viewed as a powerhouse for a European team to learn anything from. The bilateral tours are a thing of the past.
If cricket acquired this much of stature and popularity, it is the bilateral tours almost every year that built up the interest and generated talent. This was possible because of professionally managed set-up like the BCCI.
Extinct bilateral tours
On the contrary, bilateral tours, save for a few between India and Pakistan, have almost extinct now from the calendar. Time was when European countries lined up before the IHF to visit and play matches in every nook and corner of India to gain experience and understand the expertise of its stalwarts.
It is imperative now for the hockey administration to work on the system of bilateral tours, hosting at least half a dozen test matches across the country. Importantly, effort should be made to invite teams from Europe and Australia to help prepare the national teams to get back at least into elite group.
Having missed the bus for the Olympics, the number of tournaments involving India will be minimal unless invited to some events by the host country.
Little time left
Now that India is an automatic qualifier for World Cup and Commonwealth Games to be held in New Delhi, the administration has precious little time left to shape a decent combination to fight the might of teams from Australia and England.
There is no need to stress the role to be played by Asian HF to devise the ways and means to uplift the sagging standards and morale after the results obtained in Beijing 2008. The concept of an Asian Champions Trophy is worth its while provided if it takes off as programmed.
Finally, it must be understood that there is no substitute for a properly devised system backed by sincere effort, hard work and determination to overcome the frailties that were allowed to creep in mainly on account of complacency.
If you need an example of conquering diffidence with confidence it mirrored exemplarily from performance of the Chinese women who almost snatched the hockey gold. That was the best moment to savour for Asian hockey.