Indian Women’s Hockey Team lost the final of the Olympics Qualifier ’12, to South Africa and thereby missed the bus to the upcoming London Olympics scheduled later this year. Undoubtedly, as far as a common citizen’s memory would go back, this was the best chance Indian Women Hockey would have had to make an impact to any Indian’s memory – qualify in front of Home crowd.

Even though a lot of people may argue that the crowd present at the National Stadium, New Delhi, was much less than the capacity of the stadium but you can’t discount the fact that there were at least a few thousand people present at the stadium. That is a good number considering the ground facts about Women Hockey in our country.

With this kind of the following, a win and qualification for the Olympics, would have an ideal kick-off platform for otherwise, practically non-existent (only from public perception), Indian Women’s Hockey.

But alas, the luck had it and we couldn’t qualify but there is much more to it than just saying that, “Oh, they conceded a soft goal,” or “Oh, we were poor at their trapping” or “The women succumbed to the pressure,” and the list goes on. The point is – we didn’t lose because of the mistakes on the field, the problem is much bigger than what one watches in the television.

Realistically speaking, if you ask knowledgeable Hockey personnel, logically, they wouldn’t have put their money on India. What an Indian heart would say is a different take though.

South African women are experienced Hockey campaigners. They have been at Olympics for at least 3 times compared to India who never made it to Olympics after 1980 (even there they were invitees). Their current team has 11 players with an experience of 100+ matches of which 2 players have played 200+ matches. On the other hand, India had only 3 players with 100+ match experience.

And even though, South Africa is 12th ranked and India is 13th ranked, there is a huge difference between the levels of their games. An expert would say with confidence that leaving aside the home advantage, South Africa was much superior in all departments.

But that can’t be an excuse for the team who lost. But interestingly, ask the people who watched the game they wouldn’t disagree that Indian women have exceptional talent and skills. They literally gave out everything that they had in this tournament.

Consider the following examples from the tournament:

Joydeep Kaur saved a drag flick with her stick by raising her stick across almost to the shoulder level.

Rani Rampal has scored goals by beating at least 3 defenders and the opponent goalkeeper in a crowded circle.

Soundarya Yendala’s game is mesmerizing and is a visual treat.

Anuradha Devi Thockchom and Vandana Katariya’s run downs in the left flank created innumerable attacks for India.

Jasjeet Kaur, Ritu Rani, Rani Poonam, Deepika Thakur, Sushila Chanu, Asunta Lakra, the list goes on and you can write pages appreciating their wonderful talent.

You need to watch them and only then you will agree these women are nowhere less than Men in their respective departments.
But one can’t blame the players ONLY for a poor performance.

Indian Women’s Hockey has been plagued with a number of issues that keeps their overall game at a much lower level in World Hockey.

After the unceremonious and much controversial departure of MK Kaushik (under him the team qualified for World Cup) in mid ‘10, Women never had a consistent and quality coach. Yes, CR Kumar is one of India’s best coaches and has been there for a while but he is not one of the World’s best coaches.

Indian men got a foreign coach as early as 2009 and it has been close to 3 years that they have had a foreign Coach with high class training and specialist coaches in all departments. Only after this, today, people feel more confident that Indian Men will surely go to the London Olympics.

For Women sadly, the story is that of Men team a decade earlier or so – you never know what’s happening in the next match. The facilities, World Class coaching and training, proper attention to player issues, a proper selection panel, etc. is pathetic for the Women.

This is where you feel for the Women players.

Following a good support that Women Hockey has developed during this Qualifier, it’s time that people who matter take Women Hockey as seriously they take Men’s Hockey. Netherlands, Germany, Australia, etc. all the countries whose model Indian Men system has been emulating should be applied to Indian Women too!

Only then the future will brighten up for the Women too.

In such circumstances, when the players give a heartening performance in front of the home crowd, one feels sad for the Women because a player never plays for losing. They always go out there to win.

And precisely that is what one would concede after seeing their performance in this Qualifier tournament: They didn’t make it but they gave their hearts out on the turf – that’s the maximum a player can give.