Thursday, May 22, 2008

Azlan Shah SILVER and Sandeep Singh

Last week, it was a wonderful show of courage, determination and, of course, Hockey. After Chile disaster, and not so encouraging performances in Australia in 4 nation series in Perth and Darwin, it was yet again disastrous start for India in 17th Azlan Shah tournament in Malaysia. When they went down to Newzealand and Argentina, all felt that it may be the same story in a row.
But then straight victories against Canada, Belgium, Pakistan and Malaysia saw Indians contesting for the Gold Medal. Pakistan, who put up a wonderful show by winning 3 and 1 draw, lost their 5th match against Belgium. In their last match, they went down to India by 1-2. The last this happened in Azlan Shah was in 1991.

India had already won everyone's heart by reaching the finals. Full credit to their valiant performance in the final, India managed a SILVER and has silenced everyone. We all are seeing a ray of hope when it comes to the turf game.
A close friend remarked surprisingly, "An invitational tournament and a SILVER! Looks like the expectations are very low! Thats why you too look so happy". He was right. Possibly, my (or in this matter, everyone's) expecatations are low from the team.
But I feel that all the players and staff deserve a pat on the back after what they did in Ipoh, Malaysia. However, I wish to express few things that we may be forgetting in this happiness:

1) Slap shot conversion and defense on that shot is something we are weak on. All the instances where we failed to convert and ones where we conceeded, needs to be analyzed.
2) There is a popular saying, "Too many cooks spoil the broth". I wonder the former brilliant defender, Pargat Singh, is suited for a "Manager" role. I feel his services can better be utilised with a technical post.
3) A team full of junior players stands 2nd in Azlan Shah (and not-qualified for Olympics Argentines grab GOLD). All other 4 Olympic qualified teams, who travel to Beijing, feature down the list. I see something missing in Olympics Field Hockey category as far as competitiveness is concerned. I hope FIH took note of the developments in Azlan Shah.
4) Few days back, Ramesh Parmeshwaran was featured in an article in leading dailies in Bangalore and was given 40% space on the page! All through the Azlan Shah tournament the sports section never got that much space as that one Parmeshwaran article got. What is given more importance in Hockey, a tournament or out of arena people, is something I keep thinking about!

Last but not least, Sandeep Singh gave a statement today that the last regime did this ..that ... blah .. blah!! Sandeep Singh is one of the best drag flicker in the World, no doubts! He proved it with the stick in his hand in Malaysia! A verbal outburst can be avoided in this case, I felt.
Hockey management can brainstorm on the idea of a media manager and code of conduct for players to avoid such happenings. It affects the image of Hockey and it affects badly, sadly!

Negative and unneccesary avoidable media coverage is another reason why Hockey fails to connect with people. There is a need for players staying positive when it comes to Media communication. When Sandeep Singh says something about the previous regime, we say, "Yeah, Hockey is like this only." To improve the popularity and image of the game, you can showcase the victories, positive points better. Cribbing about the past, results only in negative publicity of the game and, unfortunately, this is what Hockey boasts off!

P.S.:
Sandeep Singh ji, my 2 cents on what you said: It's easy to comment on history. Keep inspiring us with your on-turf activities!