Indian Express: Hockey dreams

The youth world cup has revived old ghosts — and hopes.

Winning the youth world cup is deemed a graduation of sorts, as in a band of young players announcing to the world that they are the future, the sporting geniuses to be beheld and trumpeted in the years to come. In the context of Indian hockey, now that they have won the Junior World Cup, it primarily connotes a revival.

It’s not the first time the word revival has been used in India’s hockey circles. More often than not, it has been thrown around presumptuously, albeit through the lens of hindsight. Wizened followers of the game could feel a sense of deja vu, memories of 2001 rushing back in. That was an year of great promise in Indian sport — a few months after arguably the greatest Houdini in Indian cricket, a bunch of promising under-21s lifted the Junior Hockey World Cup in Hobart. The revival of the national sport and the national passion was fervently celebrated. Nine years later, the nucleus of the team that surmounted the all-conquering Australia in Eden Gardens scaled the pinnacle of Test rankings. But the core of the other golden generation had splintered, and only a few remained after the national failed to qualify for the Beijing Olympics. So the generation ordained to recreate the magic of Indian hockey helplessly watched Indian hockey hitting its nadir.

It’s the ghosts of the sublimely gifted Deepak Thakur and Co that the class of 2016 should fear, or be wary of. It’s an instructive tale they would do well to not repeat. But there are sufficient reasons to believe they wouldn’t digress like their much-hyped predecessors. Firstly, this is a grounded bunch. Secondly, they won by playing a very modern brand of direct, attacking hockey. The obsession with fancy dribbles and dodges was shelved for a more pragmatic yet thrilling method. Thirdly, they are being groomed in a more professional set-up, with limited avenues to go astray and a committed support staff closely monitoring their progress. Maybe, in five to six years, the revival we are discussing now wouldn’t sound presumptuous.