Jitendra Nath Misra

At World League, feisty Indian women show the way

The Hockey World League Semifinals at Antwerp held no surprises, showing that the great powers of hockey will not easily yield their privileged positions. From the men’s section Australia, Belgium and Great Britain qualified for the Rio Olympics, joined by India for the World League Finals.

The Netherlands, South Korea and Australia qualified for the Rio Olympics from the women’s section, with New Zealand joining them for the World League Finals. The outcomes were consistent with rankings.

The real heroism was shown by aspirants to hockey’s pantheon. The less heralded men’s team from Ireland and the Indian women’s team have almost won Olympics qualification. The Belgian women faltered on the big stage and the fast-improving Italian women are set for future laurels. Pakistan’s failure to qualify for the Olympics must have something to do with the lack of opportunities to play the top teams. France showed an ability to compete with the best, and Malaysia displayed flair.

For India the dual-gender format of the tournament provided for a real contest between the men’s and women’s teams. The women won the duel. Ranked 13, they were able to beat one higher-ranked team (No. 10 Japan). Undaunted by heavy defeats early on, they showed improvement as the tournament progressed. In contrast, the men could not beat a single higher-ranked team, and played a draw with the lower-ranked Pakistan.

For the women, to defend a narrow 1-0 lead for over three quarters of the game against Japan was stellar. Clearly, they showed a desperate desire to keep alive their Olympics dream, which also explains their competitive game against Australia, 11 places above India in ranking. That was a high-energy game with uncluttered minds.
Yet, the structural problems in the play of the women’s team remain. The Netherlands and New Zealand blew the Indians away with unsettling fury. With better defensive play, the defeats might have been narrower.
Against the Netherlands India’s attacking game gave the Dutch girls too much space for counterattacks. India’s slow build-up was too predictable, and their second-half comeback too late. In the 2013 World League Semifinals at Rotterdam, the Dutch had beaten the Indians by the same seven-goal margin. The next frontier is to reduce the margins of defeat to the top teams.

After narrow victories against lower-ranked teams, the men faltered as the tournament progressed. Yet, their long-term, gradual improvement is discernible. From a sixth place finish at the 2013 World League Semifinals, the men progressed to the fourth position at Antwerp.

But the team’s playing structure remains wobbly. In the quarterfinals, Malaysia almost outwitted India by dictating the pace of the game, forcing Indian errors in the circle. Only in the final quarter were India able to get their defence right. Australia, Belgium and Great Britain played against India as if their lives depended upon the outcome, but the Indians seemed to be sleep-walking, especially when not with the ball. Had the hunger to win vaporised after the Olympics qualification had been done with?

The stark truth bears reiteration: India are significantly behind the top six teams. Even the Irish team traps better and hits the ball cleaner and flat. The only way forward is to go on playing the top teams regularly. Hockey India’s successful bids for major tournaments and its astute marketing mean that India will do just that. The next test will be in the Men’s Hockey World League Finals in the winter. Much work remains before the Rio Olympics.
With the Olympics qualification out of the way, this tournament was an opportunity for coach Paul van Ass to experiment. But clearly, he has not been given enough time for the team to internalise the 10-on-10 attack-defence strategy. The first part of the strategy worked against the par teams, and the players regularly fell back to defend in numbers. But the second part, tight marking in the circle, needs more work. Against Australia, Belgium and Great Britain the team faltered in the Indian circle, giving the opponents too much time and space to shoot.
On balance the tournament can be reckoned a modest success for Indian hockey. The Indians can now believe in better outcomes against the top teams. If Belgium and Argentina can do it, why can’t India?

World hockey has been predictable for so long that a change in its power structure would invigorate the sport. Improving India should steel themselves to throw that challenge, and the women at least are developing feisty self-esteem. We should therefore stop obsessing with the men and look at the sport in its totality. Indian hockey would be better off being treated like an Ardhanarishwara character, where the success of one gender stimulates the adrenaline of the other.

The writer, an Indian Foreign Service officer, is India’s ambassador to Portugal. The views expressed are his own.