Stickwork Gurbux Singh

It’s time to take stock of Indian hockey. Our recent performances have betrayed all expectations. Failures create doubts in mind and sadly, in the world of cut-throat competition, our players have been found wanting time and again. The lack of a sound focus seems to be our biggest enemy.

Gone are the days when a few elite teams won one tournament after another while the hapless majority remained content in practising the participation-more-important-than-winning mantra.

But this is a different age, a new era altogether and there is not much of a gap between the haves and have-nots of the game. So ‘upsets’ are the rule rather than exception. The days of monopoly are over, giving way to a level-playing field.

Take, for example, the recently-held World Cup qualifiers in Changzhou (eastern China). New Zealand not only emerged the champions ahead of South Korea and Pakistan, the likes of Japan and France showed enough promise to suggest the dawn of a new world order.

Australia still remain the team to beat, but these small teams can’t certainly be taken for granted.

Eight-time Olympic champions India, the sport’s torchbearer in the past, have to accept the bitter truth that we have left our best far, far behind. The Champions Trophy to Commonwealth Games to four-nation meets ? the tale of disappointment is uniform.

Keeping this in mind, V. Baskaran has a tough job. He was in charge of the team earlier and is thus expected to identify and address the core of problems. I was with him at the Azlan Shah Cup as manager and 2000 Olympics as observer. His deputy at that time was Harinder Singh. It’s the same combination now and I hope he’ll be able to set things in order.

Looking back at the Commonwealth Games, the quicker we forget about that tournament, the better. India started with the capability of making the last-four stage, but the draw with Malaysia in the opening match hurt them badly. This is another case in point that you can’t treat anybody as pushovers. Then we lost to Pakistan, and our slim chances of reaching the next stage evaporated like camphor.

Once we reconcile ourselves to the fact that India have looked pedestrian in the past few years and are struggling to make a mark in world hockey, let’s move over to what Baskaran can do in the days to come.

Dilip Tirkey and Jugraj Singh have returned to the side. Jugraj had played in the PHL, though his performance was nothing extraordinary. It’s sort of a miracle to me that he has returned to full-fledged action following that disastrous road accident three years back. He’s a class act and even if he gets to 70 per cent of his earlier fitness, he’s going to be an asset for India. Baskaran has to handle him properly.

It’s too early to blame the new coach for the team’s disappointing outing in the four-nation meet in Germany. On the contrary, he needs an air of security and should be given at least two years to organise his resources. We need to realise that some of the players are ageing and therefore, it’s time to look three years ahead through steady injection of young blood into the team.

However, there’s a question mark over how this process can be pushed through. Because, the reality at the grassroots level tells a different story. Beighton Cup is still not played on astroturf. More shamefully, the recent sub-junior (under-15) nationals were held at a rubbish-strewn ground in Andhra Pradesh.

Such meets are the nursery of our next generation of players and unless we plug these loopholes, we’ll continue to be dressed down by all and sundry.

I’m deeply saddened by the demise of my dear colleague Shankar Laxman. He was a legend, an extraordinary goalkeeper and, as a person, very humble, down-to-earth and straightforward.

Some fond memories keep flooding my mind. Our association as India players started in 1963 and went on till a pre-Olympic meet in 1967. We loved playing under each other’s captaincy. I led the side in a Hamburg meet in 1966 and then, in the Asian Games the same year, I played under him.

He was always an asset to the team and helped me a lot when I led the gold-winning side in 1964.

It’s really sad that I’ve now lost eight of my colleagues from that ’64 Olympic side. May Shankar’s soul rest in peace.