Glory after Gloom: A decadal Chronicle of Indian women’s hockey 2010 to 2020 has just been released. The book, first of its kind, was authored by noted hockey historian K. Arumugam.
GLORY after GLOOM: A Decadal Chronicle of Indian women hockey.
ABOUT THE BOOK
This work is a journey with Indian women’s hockey for the last 10 years. Starting from 2010, it chronicles each and every tournament the women have taken part in; dwells on how they fared, evaluates significance in winning and losing, with an eye for detail. It is an effort to give context and perspective to every event. Each player’s career, profile, entry into the international area and their growth are traced and presented with compassion. Each and every player’s contribution to the collective interest of the team is also painstakingly presented in an orderly way. Besides the team’s performance in international forums, how select players evolved from wannabe to winning mascots is a natural corollary to the extensive work. Any sport is well understood with properly extracted numbers. The second part of the chronicle is devoted to statistics, a veritable treasure trove.
CHAPTERS
CHAPTER 1: ENDURING PAIN
CHAPTER 2: MISSING BUS TO LONDON
CHAPTER 3: AT LAST, A PODIUM FINISH
CHAPTER 4: GLIMMER OF HOPE
CHAPTER 5: A LOW IN RIO
CHAPTER 6: ASIA CONQUERED
CHAPTER 7: A SAGA ENDS
CHAPTER 8: TOKYO, HERE WE COME!
CHAPTER 9: ARJUNA AWARD ANGST
PART II
Statistics
Total Pages: 206
HIGHLIGHTED THE FOLLOWING
- Won the Hockey World League Tier-2 three times by virtue of which India qualified to play the Hockey World League Tier-3 three times. Through one of the Tier-3 events, the team qualified for the Olympics (Rio, 2016) for the first time after 1980.
- By winning the FIH Series Finals tournament and then the Olympic Qualifiers against USA, India qualified for the Tokyo Olympics.
- Of a possible three, India qualified for the World Cup twice. They did not qualify for the 2014 edition. In 2010, the team finished ninth to record their second best World Cup finish. In 2018, India lost the quarterfinal on a shootout and finished eighth, the highest among four Asian teams.
- India Played in all five editions of the Asian Champions Trophy, winning a medal four times. They entered the final three times, winning once.
- India entered the Asian Games final after 20 years. They Won silver in the 2018 edition and bronze in two preceding campaigns
- India won the bronze medal in the Junior World Cup for the first time but failed to qualify for the 2017 edition.
- India won the quadrennial Asia Cup once and picked up the bronze in the other.
- Six women hockey players achieved the amazing 200th caps honour, one more than their men’s counterpart in the same decade. Two received the Padmashree, the country’s top civilian award.
- The under-18 girls won the silver medal on the only occasion India took part in the Youth Olympic Games, in 2018.
- For the first time ever, all age group National championships were held on time, each in two divisions. A a colossal effort!