Saturday, July 12, 2008

Decline of Indian Hockey Administration....

Kal kuch rahe na rahe .... I am sure, Hockey will be played in Punjab, Haryana, Orissa, Jharkhand, Bhopal and Maharashtra. People who play a sport mostly play for their pleasure. 10 years later, you will still have a Diwakar Ram. So, what is declining ...? .... it's only Indian Hockey adminstration.

When the Junior Asia Cup should have got all the attention, the media is focussing on:

1) Whether or not Gill will give back the trophy or not?

2) Opinions of all "Bhartiya Hockey ke Shubh Chintak", with regards to Charlesworth episode.

3) How India is about to loose being the host to the World Cup 2010.

4) What may happen in the last 3 days of the tournament when the FIH officials come in.

5) Then, to top it all, we have comment from Balbir Singh, Sr.

Sometimes, I find it embarrasing to tell my friends that I am a Hockey fan. Just being polite to me, they don't ask me but their eyes say it all, "What is there to be a fan of it?".

The beauty of democracy is, "Right to opinion". Doesn't matter whether you have the facts or figures but if you have an opinion, there is always a platform to voice it and then reach out to the world. MS Gill, Sher Khan, Md. Aslam, Pargat Singh. You name one person and they always have an "opinion" based on everything but facts and figures.

If, without watching a movie, people can file PILs saying that this movie is portraying someone in bad light OR without knowing anything about Nuclear deal, Mayawati can say it is anti-Muslim, then I feel Balbir Singh or Pargat Singh or for that matter MS Gill can say whatever is their 'opinion'.

The sad portion comes when this "opinion" reflects the "attitude" of the admininstrators. Aslam Sher Khan, the chief of ad-hoc Selection Committee, has announced that India is in need of a Coach! .... Oops, Charlesworth leave just now or else we would have had one. No worries, the post is open now!

Sher Khan saheb, my question to you: "Did you watch 1 match of Champions Trophy?". The Eurpoeans and Kookaburas have gone far beyond Indian Hockey! I hope atleast 1 person, whom you would believe, must have told you that.

OK, let's see it from another perspective! If you feel that Indian Hockey will be back to "those days", then you will have to beat Netherlands, Australia, Argentina, Germany, Spain and last but not the least, Great Britain! How can we do that?

1) Have an extensive analysis of their game! - by watching their game, their players, recording matches and then do a technical dissection of each and every individuals' game.If we can't do this, we can't beat them. Indeed, we don't do any of those.

2) A team of coaches visit the whole World and see how innovative methodology is being used to develop the sport in leaps and bounds. Then, implement it. Indeed, we don't do any of it.

3) That leaves us what they did to us. They came to us to learn. Let's do that. There is no harm in learning, right? If you don't like what they teach, just discard it! But let's see what secrets they have got to share with us. The foriegners are medal winners, they will surely ask for money. Balbir Singh ji, "Kisi se kuch seekhne ko mile, ismein tou koi buraayi nahin hai na?"

A lot of well-known people say that,"Indian Hockey needs to start from scratch" or "Indian Hockey needs some 5 years to recover".

My question is,

What is road map of the same?

What are the milestones?
What is the interim plan for the failures?

What's the plan to measure the success of the road map?

Here's another take: Every team (in any sport) that is ranked no. 1 in the World or "wins" (please read it as "wins" only) some prestigious tournaments has a model on which they work for atleast an year. It's always something which is innovative and when the World comes to know about it, they learn from it. Let's see it the reverse way, do we have some innovative model on which we work?

If you see it from a different angle, Balbir Singh is a honest person. Atleast, he said his mind. Others, first create a situation where they leave others with no options, and finally while facing the media, they say, "We wanted people to work with us, but they left in haste."

Indian Hockey is in more news (for whatever reasons) than it was before Gill and Jothikumaran were shown the door.
To all "Shubh Chintak of Bhartiya Hockey": Just remember, Gill is watching ... and I am sure he must smiling at all of you.....because you are continuing his (destructive) work!

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Bremen 4 nation Women Hockey, Germany

The following are the results to Bremen Four Nation Women Hockey Tournament, Germany, 4-6 July 2008.
4th July:
Korea v USA: 5-3
1:0 Seon Ok Lee (PC, 5.)
1:1 Keli Smith (11.)
2:1 Young Ran Kim (12.)
-----------------
2:2 Tiffany Snow (PC, 40.)
2:3 Tiffany Snow (45.)
3:3 Sung Hee Gim (PC, 53.)
4:3 Seon Ok Lee (PC, 57.)
5:3 Mi Hyun Park (PC, 59.)

Germany v India: 7-2
1:0 Maike Stöckel (17.)
2:0 Anke Kühn (32.)
----------------------
3:0 Maike Stöckel (40.)
3:1 Rani (46.)
4:1 Janine Beermann (47.)
4:2 Chanchan Thockchom (48.)
5:2 Katharina Scholz (58.)
6:2 Eileen Hoffmann (62.)
7:2 Natascha Keller (63.)
5th July:
Korea v Germany: 2-2
1:0 Maike Stöckel (26.)
2:0 Tina Bachmann (31.)
----------------------
2:1 Mi Seon Kim (42.)
2:2 Sung Hee Gim (PC, 63.)
USA v India: 1-1
0:1 Surinder Kaur (PC, 4.)
1:1 Kelly Doton (PC, 32.)
6th July:
Korea v India: 9-2
1:0 Seon Ok Lee (PC, 18.)
2:0 Jeong Sook Park (19.)
2:1 Rani (21.)
3:1 Seon Ok Lee (PC, 28.)
-----------------
4:1 Mi Young Eum (41.)
5:1 Seon Ok Lee (PC, 43.)
6:1 Mi Seon Kim (48.)
7:1 Da Rae Kim (58.)
8:1 Sung Hee Gim (PC, 60.)
8:2 Subhadra Pradhan (63.)
9:2 Sung Hee Gim (PC, 70.)
Germany v USA: 7-2
1:0 Anke Kühn (PC, 1.)
2:0 Fanny Rinne (PC, 10.)
3:0 Eileen Hoffmann (26.)
4:0 Natascha Keller (31.)
----------------------
4:1 Carrie Lingo (50.)
5:1 Eileen Hoffmann (60.)
6:1 Janine Beermann (62.)
6:2 Tiffany Snow (63.)
7:2 Natascha Keller (69.)

Final Standings:
1. Germany
2. Korea
3. USA
4. India

Source: http://www.usfieldhockey.com/results/women/2008/wnt_germany_fournations.html
http://www.bremenhockey.de/VVI-web/default.asp?lokal=BRE