The Hindu : Meaning of Asia Cup Triumph

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 01, 2003

Opinion

Opinion - Editorials

Meaning of Asia Cup Triumph

THE FIRST WIN in six Asia Cup hockey championships since their inception in 1982 is significant in two aspects. First, it ensured India a place in the 2006 World Cup. India has been regularly competing in the qualifiers from 1989. Secondly, the triumph has triggered a national reawakening to the attractions and importance of the only sports discipline where India has eight Olympic gold medals under its belt. The current euphoria underscores the feelings and hopes of millions of hockey fans who have been silently waiting for India to regain its identity as a major power. Since 1975 when it won the World Cup, India has consistently failed on the world stage (despite winning gold in the boycott-hit 1980 Moscow Olympics). The reasons range from administrative apathy to frequent alterations in rules to the inability to adjust to, and confront, challenges surfacing from the introduction of expensive synthetic pitches. There have been repeated suggestions for roping in a foreign coach to teach the fundamentals. But the administration has resisted this demand.

The present resurgence can be attributed to the well structured junior development programme. When K.P.S. Gill picked up the reins as president of the Indian Hockey Federation in 1994, he sought an eight-year period to get results. The first rewarding sign came in 2001, when India won the Junior World Cup at Hobart. Ten who figured in that maiden victory were part of the national team at Kuala Lumpur. Frequent international competitions helped improve in deficient areas like conversion and defence of penalty corners. They also enabled coaches to re-design modes to meet the power and the man-to-man marking tactics of the European teams. The recent victories in Australia and Germany confirmed that the Indians have not only sharpened their skills, especially in mid-field work and hitting in penalty corners, but have also matched their rivals in physical fitness to last the rigours of playing on artificial pitches. A month-long special commando training with the Army in March this year helped raise the team's fitness level. For the huge Indian audience, however, the denominator of hockey success is the outcome of contests against Pakistan. On the six occasions the teams met this year, India has won three, including the Asia Cup, lost two and drawn one. The Indian Government has been strangely reluctant to sanction bilateral series even in neutral venues. It must be realised that hockey contacts are effective means to upgrading standards in the subcontinent. The leadership of the International Hockey Federation has repeatedly emphasised that only a strong India and a strong Pakistan can sustain the development of hockey as an Olympic sport. At this juncture, both need to catch up with the Olympic champion, the Netherlands, and the World champion, Germany.

A positive aspect of the upturn in Indian hockey fortunes is the rapidly growing interest shown by sponsors. Twin successes in Australia brought in a big time cricket sponsor, Sahara, with a lucrative eight-year contract. The incentives and rewards can be expected to improve as long as Indian hockey development is on a sound path. Better and more focussed media coverage is also a spur to players who have long felt that the obsession with cricket denies them their due. The Asia Cup triumph was a defining moment in the quest for higher honours. The next task is to clinch a place for the Athens Olympiad from the qualifier scheduled in March at Madrid; there the competition will be tougher. The accolades and rewards following the Asia Cup triumph should not lead to the players losing focus and being lulled into a state of complacency. This must be reckoned a significant advance in the long march towards success in the Olympics and the World Cup.

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