NEW DELHI, 4 July 2003 — Forget Austrlia, this will be a brand new tournament, coach Rajinder Singh is reported to have told his team before the start of the Hamburg Masters. After the back-to-back victories in Australia and Germany, Indian hockey’s well-wishers at home would advise Dhanraj Pillai and his magnificent young men to put both triumphs behind them. There are stiffer tests ahead — the Champions Trophy next month at Amsterdam followed by the Olympic qualifiers. On the road up you have to be harsh on yourselves.
Meanwhile, congratulations are in order. Not in a long time so many victory signs and sunny smiles have been flashed by Indian hockey players. But let the new rising confidence not turn into complacency.
This writer remembers the day, almost 20 years ago, when he met then captain, Zafar Iqbal, a lone, forlorn figure in the dressing room after a defeat against Australia at Kuala Lumpur. He was worried what people back home would say, how some ill-informed, incensed member of Parliament would pull up his team in the Lok Sabha. It was the kind of worry and tension he and his team could have done without. Today, Zafar himself will be happy to see the beaming faces of this new generation of hockey players.
After the campaigns in Australia and Germany, the Indian team will go into the prestigious Champions Trophy no strangers to the various styles of the rivals they will come up against in the Netherlands. Against both the so-called Asian and European styles they have given a fair account of themselves. But a word of caution. The teams at Hamburg also must have been experimenting for the tougher tests to come, just as we were doing. The European championships for one, not to mention the Champions Trophy. Coaches there are shrewd enough not to reveal all their cards.
As we noticed on the Australian tour, India can spread their attack through the length and breadth of the pitch. Their goals, for a refreshing change, can come from directions and points, not to mention penalty corners, in which department we possess more than one specialist. It was quite satisfying to note that more than half of India’s ten goals at Hamburg came from penalty corners, which, incidentally, was a specialty of coach Rajinder Singh in his playing days. But since then the game, its rules, tactics and even penalty corner conversion techniques have changed beyond recognition. While keeping abreast of the new tactics, and even inventing new ones ourselves, it is equally important to develop our defense against penalty corners. The best thing to do, of, course, would be not to give away any at all.
One more thing. Why those green cards Rajinder Singh has spoken of in his despatch to a contemporary. For all the ebullience of our young team, preparing for the acid tests ahead, they better be warned to stay on the right side of the law, in other words, in the good books of the umpires.
Dhanraj and his boys’ recent victories can attract more youngsters to take to hockey, that would in itself be quite rewarding.
