The Hindu : The Netherlands has the edge

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Feb 05, 2004

Sport

Sport - Hockey

The Netherlands has the edge

By S. Thyagarajan

HYDERABAD, FEB. 4. A new chapter will be written when the ball rolls across the turf at Gachibowli tomorrow as India and the Netherlands lock horns in the first Test of the three-match hockey series. It is indeed appropriate and thoughtful on the part of the Indian Hockey Federation to have instituted a trophy to commemorate the centenary of Naval Tata.

Naval Tata was at the helm of affairs of the Indian Hockey Federation from 1947 to 58. This was the golden era of Indian hockey, as the three previous gold medals at the Olympics — from 1928 to 36 — were under British rule.

Independent India won three more gold medals in London (1948), Helsinki (1952) and Melbourne (1956) under the patronage of Naval Tata before the administration baton passed to Ashwini Kumar. It is heartening to know that the powers-that-be chose to remember this member of the illustrious Tata family, whose contribution to the growth and development of sports in India needs no exaggeration.

Naval Tata gave a new direction and dynamism in restructuring the administration to meet the hopes and aspirations of an emerging nation. It was during his period that the National championship acquired a trophy for the winner, when the proprietors of The Hindu, headed by Mr. Kasturi Srinivasan, presented the Rangaswamy Cup in 1951 at Madras, in memory of one of the newspaper's illustrious editors, S. Rangaswamy.

Coming back to the series set to start on Thursday, hazarding a guess over the final outcome will be presumptuous. The Dutch view the contests as important and winning is paramount. The effort the players put in at the venue on a hot and humid day amply reflected that.

The Dutch coach, Australian Terry Walsh, emphasised winning the series was critical to the final preparations for the pre-Olympics at Madrid. His counterpart, Rajinder Singh, however, does not share this view. He was more cautious and termed the series as an opportunity to examine and evaluate the resources available.

In terms of balance, Netherlands has the edge, fielding almost the same outfit that conquered Australia in the Champions Trophy. The trumpcards are the penalty corner specialists, Bram Lomans and Taeke Takema. The latter has been more successful in recent weeks than the rangy Lomans. The seasoned Teun de Nooijer will be the playmaker with the strong midfield of Jeroen Delmee, Erik Jazart and Piet-Hein Geeris providing adequate cover.

Goalkeeper Guus Vogels is among the top players now while the strike force will have Ronald Brouwer and Mattijs Brouwer.

The 2-4 defeat, after leading 3-0 till eight minutes before the hooter, should be at the back of the minds of the Indians. Those disastrous eight minutes at Amstelveen almost pushed India out of the medal bracket in the Champions Trophy in August, reinforcing the fact that the defence must be alert in the dying minutes, irrespective of how strong the team is in positional play and interceptions. Skipper Dilip Tirkey and Kanwalpreet Singh, not to speak of goalkeeper, Devesh Chauhan, are quite aware of this fact.

Ignace Tirkey and Viren Resquinha are the key midfielders who are expected to supplement the consistency and craft of Bimal Lakra, Vikram Pillay and Vinay. The outcome of the contests will hinge on the efficiency and enterprise of this phalanx.

Rajinder Singh, quite inexplicably, keeps harping about the conversion of penalty corners. It is, however, a known fact that India fails to force as many corners as it wishes to. The Dutch defence is unlikely to concede too many for the coach to experiment with flickers like Baljit Dhillon, Didar Singh, Dilip Tirkey and Len Aiyappa. The chances are that India might score more field goals, thanks to the presence of Gagan Ajit Singh, Prabhjot Singh and Sandeep Michael. The coach has tremendous faith in Inderjit Singh despite admitting that the attack would be stronger with Dhanraj Pillay and Deepak Thakur.

The opening match on Thursday under floodlights will determine the course of the series and, quite understandably, there is an air of expectation.

Faiz Muhammad Faizi of Pakistan and Amarjit Singh of Malaysia will be the umpires for the series. Mohammad Munir of Tamil Nadu is the reserve. Krishnamurthy, Secretary, Karnataka Hockey Association, is the Tournament Director.

Vijaya Rama Rao, State Minister for Commercial Taxes, will inaugurate the Test series.

Live on DD Sports

Doordarshan (Sports) will telecast live the matches which start at 6-30 p.m. on Thursday, 6 p.m. on Saturday and 4 p.m. on Sunday. Friday is a rest day.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport

News Update

Stories in this Section

Cricket

India has to recapture batting magic

Is India shining?

Hughes' advice to Indians

Ranji Trophy one-day inter-zonal from today

England `A' hopes to do well

Tennis

South Asia's only ATP event will stay in Chennai

Five Indians cruise into quarterfinals

Hockey

India swamps Kazakhstan, meets Korea in semifinals

Waiting for their baggage

The Netherlands has the edge

Football

E. Bengal signs pact with Leicester City

Billiards & Snooker

Advani pockets junior snooker title too

Chess

Short stops Hari, takes lead

Golf

Meghna stuns Anjali