Indian Men’s Hockey 2003:
Stay Focussed. Skip skirmishes. The world is watching you.
Winning 16 out of 28 matches it played, while drawing four, Indian hockey ends the year 2003 on high note. The heartening feature of course was the focus that the sport of hockey got in the public consciousness. India’s two successive 4-Nation Cup wins, one in Sydney and the other at Hamburg, helped hockey to gain the spotlight. Some more victories obtained in the latter part of the year sustained it.
However, against the backdrop of Hamburg and Sydney successes, a lot was expected from the Indians at Amsterdom in the golden jubilee Champions Trophy. India surely bucked under pressure, losing four of the six matches, all with bad margins, to finish fourth. As the fear of India relegated to 5-6th placing match loomed large, it surprised many by defeating Pakistan for an astounding 7-4 scoreline. This surprise result indirectly helped Australia to move for the final, upsetting the apple cart of loser Pakistan in their quest for reaching the final.
Incidentally, the India-Pakistan encounters were the feature of 2003. In a rather unusual occurrence, India met Pakistan twice in all the competitions they played in 2003. From Pakistan’s perspective, the bronze it got pipping India 4-3 in the Champions Trophy is the only consolation. Otherwise, it was a disappointing show for them against their traditional sporting foe. India defeated Pakistan in the final of the Asia Cup, a gem of a goal emanating from unexpected quarters – midfielder Ignace Tirkey – for that rare victory, India’s first in the Asia Cup final since the competition was put on calendar in 1982. India again overcome Pakistan, when both teams left some of their ace players, at the Afro-Asian Games, a new venture between the two continents, at Hyderabad. Gagan Ajit was the cock of walk there with a spectacular crucial goals to his credit.
Not often do India and Pakistan play as many as eight times as they did in 2003. India won five of them while one match ended in a 4-4 draw. The victories, fortunately telecast live in India, gave a new lease of life for Indian hockey. But the fact of the matter is, Can successes against Pakistan alone is suffice to be counted in the world? The reality that starks on the face is, India losing four matches at Champions Trophy. Many experts feel India should come out of Pakistan-Only-Mindset to get into top four of the world. Incidentally, FIH recognized World Ranking places Pakistan at five and India at six. So in the final analysis it is what it counts.
India’s wins brought a sponsor, Sahara, who also sponsors Indian cricket team. The sponsorship amount is unspecified. It is widely believed that Dhanraj Pillay’s passionate plea for sponsorship, after Castrol withdrew the sponsorship deal with the IHF in March, struck a responsive chord with Sahara. At least this is the view of Sahara insiders. However, the IHF gives the role played by LSM, its marketing agent, for the deal. KPS Gill was on record : ‘ Wins help bring the sponsorship though it on its own cannot’. Incidentally, when a leading weekly magazine conducted a survey as to who among the non-politicians is ideal for the Prime Minister of India post, KPS Gill came second behind the current president of India, APJ Abdul Kalam, a scientist by profession.
Despite rekindling the public passion, the Indian victories – four golds in six tournament played in 2003 – brought in its wake some avoidable incidents. Foremost of course the ‘live’ spat between Asia Cup winning captain Dhanraj Pillay and the coach who made it happen, Rajinder Singh. But careful watchers would agree this was just a tip of iceberg of what had been going on inside the team. Coach Rajinder, under whom India won 24 of the 49 matches, did not endear himself with some leading lights of the team. Call it ego, or anxiety to share the credit for victory or media focus, coach and players did not see in unison in many matters. Caught in the struggle is the media.
Rajinder went hammer and tongs on players, even questioning their sincerity when things did not go the way he liked to at Amsterdom. Shortly after return, a gag media approach was thoughtlessly put in place. Without prior information, the gates of the stadia were closed for media. The worst sufferers were the television crew. While the print media managed their stories with ‘sources’ (courtesy: mobiles and emails), television media were surprised at the shock. However, it was largely a Delhi affair till Asia Cup spat occurred at Chennai. It’s felt that it’s high time the IHF elevate itself to the level of a big sport manager, befitting the improved profile of hockey. The IHF should consider the popular suggestion of appointing (or soliciting the services of ) professional media officer before the issue gets out of hand. A news agency even claimed KPS Gill having abused media i