Stickwork Gurbux Singh

Indian hockey is bracing for another crucial event as far as our qualification for the Beijing Olympics is concerned. We have home advantage this time, with Chennai hosting the Asia Cup from September 1-10 and nothing but winning the trophy will help realise our Beijing dream.

Pakistan have agreed to take part after an initial ‘no’. With the likes of South Korea, China, Japan and Malaysia also in the fray, it’s going to be a tough tournament. Though this is one big chance for us to regain some respect in international hockey, it will not conceal the ground reality. It’s really sad to note that the priority for us now is to qualify for the Olympics and not win it — something we used to do so regularly in the past.

Seeing India achieve a podium finish (third) in the recently-held Champions Challenge in Belgium was heartening, but Sandeep Singh was injured. We are going to pick the Asia Cup squad on Saturday. My understanding is that Sandeep’s recovery is satisfactory and we hope to get him ready for the tournament.

News is also filtering in that India have offered to stage the Champions Trophy in December if it is moved from Pakistan for security reasons. Australia have already pulled out of the meet and I’m not sure a few other nations won’t follow suit. Even in 1971, Pakistan faced the same problem because of the Bangladesh liberation war and lost the opportunity of hosting the first World Cup. Barcelona eventually staged the tournament.

The International Hockey Federation has recently written a letter to the Indian federation, suggesting that Richard Charlesworth be sounded out as coach. There is no doubt that it’s high time we got somebody like the famous Australian, but it may not be feasible as a lot of money is involved.

We have a national coach in Joaquim Carvalho, who has tried his best during his short tenure. But Charlesworth is a big name and has done exceptionally well with the Australian women’s team. Indian hockey will benefit from if he comes on board. So what the federation can do is to lob the ball into the government’s court and ask for financial help.

Back home, we are finally getting an astroturf. We are exploring the possibility of setting it up either at Dumurjola in Howrah or at Salt Lake. Hopefully, the issue will be settled in the next couple of months.

The next year is the Bengal Hockey Association’s centenary and we have already started the process of celebrating it in a big way. If everything goes according to plans, we may have an indoor tournament, involving some international teams.