Unsung Kazan champs do hockey proud

Sandeep Narayan | New Delhi

MK Kaushik is in the habit of revitalising the hopes and spirit of women’s hockey, especially when it’s down in the dumps. That’s probably why this women’s hockey coach was behind Shah Rukh Khan’s character in Chak De. The most recent of commendations for this Olympian and his team come for their victory in the Champions Challenge II at Kazan.

What they achieved in Kazan may just be tip of the iceberg compared to the amount of work that is needed to uplift the sport in India but the significance of their victory, when looking at the bigger picture, cannot be negated.

“After all that has happened in the past few months I can confidently say that the spirits of the girls have not dampened and this victory is proof of that,” Kaushik told The Pioneer after returning from Kazan.

The existing chaos in the domestic structure coupled with the fact that the team was subjected to mental trauma after they missed their flight to Kazan due to a transit visa mess-up (they finally flew the next day) proves that it’s a miracle that these women even reached the final, let alone win it.

“The travel agent and the airlines really messed it for us but I’m glad that the officials of Hockey India were quick to react and got us to Kazan in time,” Kaushik added.

“But we did great there despite all roadblocks. Our forwards have done well though there is still a lot of work to do in the defence department. However, we now have a good stepping stone to start on,” he said.

Their victory in the second tier of the Champions Trophy qualifier establishes that women’s hockey in India is still alive and kicking. It also means that the administrators have to build on this win and begin a special plan to elevate the level of the players.

Women’s hockey has been neglected for quite some time now. While their counterparts have been in the limelight, the women’s team still receives biased treatment. May be, that’s why when the team returned home early Tuesday they were disappointed to see that there was no official to receive them at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here.

“We were expecting some officials to welcome us at the airport, somebody could have come and wished us for our performance,” a team member said on condition of anonymity.

However, coach Kaushik feels that such things won’t dampen the spirits of the players and that they would be back in full spirit when camp begins next month. “The girls are unaffected by such things. We have done all the hard work now it is upon us to improve. Some of the girls are going for the Junior World Cup and we have to start preparing for the Junior Asia Cup,” Kaushik said.