MUMBAI: With hardly any action worth the name on the cricketing front the Indian media had the space and the time to look at other sports for a change. The surprise of all surprises, was that hockey hogged all the headlines and, for once, for all the right reasons.
One cannot say that the turmoil in the Indian Hockey Federation due to constant bickering within is over. But there are good signs that things are moving in the right direction, what with the acquisition of a new foreign coach for the national team and, more importantly, a ready response from big sponsors.
Did the visit of the International Hockey Federation (FIH) chief Leandro Negre provided the boost? In a way, yes, it did help in Hockey India (the new name for IHF) to quickly get their act together. Negre, who had come to see the arrangements for next year’s World Cup in New Delhi, sounded a stern warning “No elections in Hockey India, no World Cup.” The state units that were sitting on the fence are now acting with greater awareness of building their identity.
The FIH chief revealed big plans for the development of the game in Asia, especially India and Pakistan, two countries that had dominated the game for so long and now fallen on lean times. According to him, money will not be a problem, as the FIH will go to any length to extend all financial help.
At a function to reveal a new logo for Hockey India, almost all the members of the 1975 World Cup winning team, led by Ajitpal Singh, were present. Even as Ajitpal reminisced about the triumph, more than three decades ago, he surprised everyone by saying that the time has come for us to inculcate some of the European skills. “It is not that the Indian and Pakistani player are less skillful, but today, you need a little bit of everything,” he said. One wonders, how many past stalwarts would ever say that.
Meanwhile, a heart-warming support has come for Indian goalkeeper Baljit Singh from no less a person than the former Indian cricket captain, Mansur Ali Khan, the Nawab of Pataudi. Baljit is in the danger of losing the vision in his right eye after being badly hit by a golf ball during practice before the European tour. Goalkeeping coach Romeo James was, like his western counterparts, using the golf ball to help Baljit to develop quick reflexes. It proved disastrous. After two surgeries, it is still doubtful whether he will regain his sight in one eye.
Pataudi had also lost the vision in his right eye in a car accident in England, but within months he made the Indian team and became the world’s youngest international cricket captain at 21. He led India in 40 of the 46 Tests he played with an impaired right eye.
Pataudi not only offered sympathies to Baljit, but also conveyed to him that if he could play so long with the handicap, why can’t the Indian goalkeeper. Baljit could not have asked for greater inspiration.
