Game for more

Nitin Sharma

Author K Arumugam flips open the seventh edition of the Hockey Yearbook

The name might be tad of a tongue twister this side of the country but tell a sports enthusiast that K Arumugam was here and chances are he’s already sprinting for an autograph book. Having authored more than ten books on hockey, the 51-year-old hockey journalist does have a final word on the game. This Monday morning saw the prolific writer launch the seventh edition of the Hockey Yearbook.

“Chandigarh is very lucky for me. I remember coming to the city for the Four Nation Pan American tournament in the ‘90s and I am lucky that I got a chance to unveil the seventh edition of the Hockey Yearbook here today,” spoke a visibly pleased Arumugam who has also authored a book on former Indian hockey captain Dilip Tirkey titled ‘Olympic Captain Dilip Tirkey’ as well well as one on Dhanraj Pillay. In a sport like hockey where accessing statistics is a tough job given the lack of a specific database, Arumugam has been doing commendable work. Apart from authoring books he’s happily stepped into the shoes of a statistician since the early nineties with his first Yearbook coming out in 1995. “It is a very difficult in hockey to prepare a database. It has taken me years to compile all the data and most of the times I travel on my own with the team. For the first two editions of the Yearbook, I did not get even a single sponsor. It was only later that I managed to get some sponsors in the form of Castrol and Hero Honda,” adds Arumugam who is also the co-author of ‘Great Indian Olympians’ and ‘Golden Boot’.

If that’s not enough, the writer is ready with his new endeavour ‘www.Stick2hockey.com’, a website dedicated to live commentary and information about hockey. “It’s a new website and I am handling all the aspects including the live commentary of the ongoing Punjab Gold Cup,” says the commentator who feels hockey needs such mediums to motivate youngsters. “I am happy to play a part in the process,” he smiles to say.

And from what we hear he’s already on to another project. “I am writing a book on Indian hockey history apart from writing a book titled ‘Glimpses of Women Hockey’,” shares the author. Clearly, writing is a turf he’s happy to play on.