Economic Times: Hockey: Is India getting out of a sticky corner?

BY: Shakya Mitra

Last week started with a 0-4 drubbing by Spain. By the time it was over, a resurgent Indian hockey team had not only wiped out the deficit in a three-game series, but won another to record an impressive series victory. This was on the back of a series win the week earlier over France. The growth in Indian hockey, notwithstanding the departure of Dutch coach Paul Van Ass, has made both fans and experts sit up.

For a sport which seemed a lost cause for India a few years back, India is regarded amongst the better teams in world hockey. Winning a medal in the Olympics would be the icing on the cake, but to see the men’s national team reach the semifinal stages of events like the Champions Trophy and Hockey World League and even beating the bigger nations once in a while, is a very heartening.

What has brought this resurgence? While a gathering of talented players is key to a good team, what has been a catalyst for this growth is the Hockey India League (HIL). Launched in 2012, the league has possibly been the best thing to have happened to the game in India. It has brought much needed professionalism into Indian hockey where top players have had to justify their substantial pay cheques with performance on field.

At the same time, it made hockey a much more visible sport as it was broadcast on prime time TV. HIL brought world-class players from different countries – Australia, Holland, England and Germany – as well as some of the most esteemed and decorated coaches from India and abroad. The exposure to the very best in the game, no doubt, has been of massive influence in the improvement in Indian hockey over the past three years.

To say that HIL had an instant impact on hockey would be wrong and unfair. In the 2014 World Cup, India finished 9th out of 12 teams. But a year and a half was probably a very short period of time for things to change. The change is more discernible now. After the 2014 World Cup, India reached the final of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, won the Asian Games gold medal, beat Australia in Australia in a four match series last November as well as racked up victories over Holland and Belgium in the Champions Trophy in December last year.

With three years of the HIL completed, and the fourth scheduled for next January-February, the experience gained by Indian players from the tournament will be invaluable as they head for the Rio Olympics – an event for which they were the first Men’s Hockey team to qualify.

Fortunately, the core of this team has remained very stable over the last few years. Of the 16 players who represented India at the 2012 London Olympics, nine are regular members of the current first team and should be going to Rio (this number includes Gurbaj Singh who is currently serving a nine month suspension).

Barring Sardar Singh, V R Raghunath, P R Sreejesh and Gurbaj, those who went to London and are now poised for Rio were barely in their 20s in 2012. At Rio, these youngsters who went to London, like Manpreet Singh, Birendra Lakra and Dharamvir Singh, would now be 24-26, mature and with invaluable experience gained from their very successful stints at the HIL, where they rubbed shoulders with the best players in the world.

Add to these Kothajit Singh and Rupinderpal Singh, players who narrowly missed selection for the London Olympics but are now established members of the Indian team, as well as Sreejesh, who went as the No. 2 goalkeeper to London and is today rated among the best in the business, and you have not just a very talented lot, but also a hungry bunch who have seen and played the game at its top-most level. And that’s been thanks largely to HIL.

Actually, HIL has not only helped polish talented players, it has also unearthed young gems who are now members of the national team. For instance, forwards Akashdeep Singh and Mandeep Singh were 18 and 17 respectively when they first played in the HIL in 2013. They are today India’s big hopes. While from a technical perspective, the HIL cannot be the only criteria for selection, it is a far bigger platform in domestic hockey than there has ever been. Both the players were part of teams that won the HIL and thus came to the attention of the Indian hockey establishment.

For Rio we have a very talented group of players with self-belief, and at an age where they could go on to achieve big things. An Olympics medal would, of course, be a delicious icing on the cake, but even if India comes close to reaching the semifinals it could signal the revival of Indian hockey.

Shakya Mitra is a sports management professional and was the franchisee manager of the Ranchi Rays team that won the 2015 HIL.