Indian Hockey - Wooden spooners, no more ....

Back in February 2012, India trumped France 8-1 to earn themselves a qualification spot for the London Olympics. The win was hailed by many as the emergence of India's national game.
However, few realised that the quality of opposition in qualifying tournaments is nowhere close to world standards.

Indian sport needed a pain balm as the cricket team had just been given a thorough thrashing Down Under in the Tests, as well as the Tri-Series.
Every one went gaga over boys trained by Micheal Nobbs and thought a turn around beckoned.

Then reality struck.

The team travelled to London with high hopes, lost all the five round robin matches with a goal difference of -12, and to make matters worse lost the qualification matches as well to end up last, in the 12th position.

That started the very typical IHF style finger pointing session with the officials, players and the coach blaming each other for the mess.

Little did the fans realise, the work in progress had started post the Olympics debacle, by the coach, the officials and the players. The same set of people who were pointing fingers at each other, started working behind the scenes to usher in the new face of Indian Hockey. Older and unfit players were rested, new blood was given opportunities and the team wore a new look with a eclectic combination of new and senior players.

The mercurial, Sardar Singh, was made in-charge of the team. He along with the coach and David John, the team physiologist worked hard on the team fitness. The man-to-man marking and trapping was given special focus.

A complete new set of defenders, drag flicker and goalkeepers, from the junior team, were inducted into the team. Though that increased the age gap between the regulars and them, the juniors, to their credit, didn't get over-awed by the seniors or the fact that they would be playing top teams in the Champions Trophy at Melbourne.

The hard work put in provided results and India ended up fourth in the recently concluded Champions Trophy at Melbourne, ahead of  Belgium, Germany, New Zealand and England.
Incidentally Germany, England and Belgium had finished in the Top 6 at the London Olympics.

This performance is superb in lieu of the fact that India was awarded a wild card and was ranked lowest.

The defence, especially, was simply brilliant in the entire tournament barring the final matches. Inexperience did them in, resulting in losses to Australia and Pakistan.

Having said that, this team is a work in progress. And in due course of time we should see a brand new Indian Hockey team that believes in itself and wins not just matches but tournaments.

The script that went horribly wrong at London, is being re-written. This is a team that is young, hungry, raring to go and will not take the wooden spoon lying down.