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Going for the gold

Photo: Vino John

Adrian D’ Souza

“Just when we begin with one line of instruction, these children fall in line,” said an obviously impressed Adrian Albert D’Souza, one of the custodians of Indian hockey. “Such discipline was unknown to us when we were kids.” Adrian was recently training children at the Rural Development Trust (RDT) Hockey Academy in the Anantapur Sports Village (ASV).

Though the scheme was started by Spanish hockey internationals Andreu Enrich and Santi Freixa, Indian involvement began early enough, Mukesh Kumar lauding the efforts of the Spaniards who were doing more to promote hockey. Since that start in 2006, Dhanraj Pillai and Harinder Singh joined this initiative.

Adrian is in the set of current national players that includes V.S. Vinay, Vikram Kanth, and Hari Prasad, owing allegiance to ‘Stick for India,’ a project aimed at propagating the sport. Adrian is all praise for the altruism shown by the Spanish duo, describing it as exemplary.

A resident of Mumbai, Adrian, a football freak until the age of nine, stepped in under the bar when the regular goal-keeper of St. Anne’s High School failed to show up for a match. The coach was so impressed that he insisted on Adrian continuing at the post, ignoring protests about a couple of teeth the youngster lost in the new job. So accomplished had he become in his new role that he was adjudged the best goalie of the Bombay under-10 schools tournament.

Handing him the title was Merwyn Fernandez, a former Olympian and coach of Indian Airlines. Over time, they became colleagues, playing and training together for the national carrier. Adrian’s first break came when he was picked as a 16-year-old for the Air India Hockey Academy. It took him just three years more to don national colours. The big moment came in Kuala Lumpur in the prestigious Sultan Azlan Shah tournament of 2004.

In no time, Adrian was on the world’s biggest stage, the most widely watched spectacle – the Olympic Games at Athens. The first game was against the Netherlands, then the reigning world champion. To face the fusillade from the likes of Takea Taekema was a baptism by fire, and Adrian was just twenty.

Having rubbed shoulders with the top guns, it was but natural that he was named captain of the Indian junior team that participated in the Rabobank 2005 Junior World Cup for players under-21. Now, to clinch the Olympic gold is Adrian’s ultimate goal.

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