Why we are not excited about the Indo-Pak junior hockey series…
India’s junior men’s hockey side begin their five match tour of Pakistan on November 11. This is supposed to be one of the many initiatives taken by the new IHF.
I care for Indian hockey and I love the intensity of India-Pakistan encounters but I am not the least bit interested in this series.
There are two reasons for my indifference.
One is the blatant abuse of age group norms by Indian Hockey Authorities. There would be suspicions about the real age of half the current junior side. So, what is the point, in watching a bunch of players who are past the age, where, they can be addressed as prodigious? Why should we raise false hopes of having a great crop of young players, when, in reality, the guys are not actually young
The second reason is the futility of playing a mediocre opponent. Pakistani hockey has also regressed. Their problem is similar to ours - inability to keep pace with the modern style of play. So rather then play a strong European opponent to test our true mettle, we play someone who as just as bad and will make us look good.
The only people who will actually celebrate this are the politicians - people who have been fooling the public with their half baked efforts at solving the Indo-Pak issue. They sent buses and trains and traders. Now they are sending a hockey team. That’s about it.
A sad statement of facts indeed. Politicking has no place in sports administrators and this is ample proof of that, sadly, hockey has become the poor politicians cricket. Your frustration which is evident is true testament to your passion. Care to explore a passionate solution as well?
Ya get a top notch foreign coach and give him complete freedom , a la football with Bob Houghton. Complete freedom means not just coaching the men’s side but also overseeing the entire pyramidal structure of Indian hockey - selecting the sides, planning the camps and foreign tours, restructuring the domestic system and so on and so forth.
Being a hockey player myself(played for the B division in Chennai), there are problems a plenty with Indian hockey. A change has to be brought about to how the system is run. Former players should actively take part in channelizing the players at a young age. State of the art turfs, facilities & stadium (a minimum of 1) in the prominent hockey cities of India. Also the young prospects for India, should be given opportunities to play abroad and improve their game sense in total. The domestic system can be more on the Ranji lines & have regular tournaments at the college, division, city, district & state level. The administrators should give a free hand to the coach at present on how he wishes to take forward Indian hockey. I for one, am looking forward to the India-Pakistan junior hockey series.
[...] to the national side to travel to Pakistan, citing security fears. This brings an end to the ongoing debate amongst IndiaAtLondon.com readers - some of whom were excited about the series while others felt it [...]
Nice article Avnish. I would like to invite on http://www.sportskeeda.com( one of the most happening website of India ) for sharing your thoughts and sports updates. We are a team of more than 70 bloggers sharing our sports passion.
Robin Chhabra
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