Misc. news about Indian hockey

[prasen9]

What's wrong with "home-grown vaccine"? I am very, very proud that a poor, otherwise somewhat backward (see HDI), country like India is actually a scientific behemoth in some sense. How many countries have their home-grown vaccines?

[jayakris]

I am with you there, srini and prasen. It is borderline miraculous how we have been able to handle the whole pandemic, and how we are even in a position to support the world with vaccines this soon (and apparently soon with some drugs too). Not just the manufacturing capacity, but on the scientific side too, in developing two vaccines of our own (one of them being the world's first DNA vaccine). The Chinese have administered more vaccine but everybody now knows that their vaccines are absolutely of no use, and that the Indian vaccines is showing results in India very clearly. This is off-topic here though.

[ssp]

I think Batra was always going to pull the hockey teams out of the CWG because he got 'burned' by the archery and shooting farce, but the arrogance and racist bias of the Brits needed to be answered. The final straw was the withdrawal of England's JWC team. I'd pull out of the CWG altogether. They are pointless and well past their sell by date!!

https://hockeypassion.in/top-slider/is- ... ixtwZmgzKU

It will be interesting to see England pulls out from the women's JWC in South Africa too.

I really hope the JWC goes ahead despite the withdrawals of Australia, NZ and England.

Slightly off topic, but Michael Holding's take on their cancellation of the Pakistan cricket tour. He's absolutely right. Shame on NZ for siding with the arrogant piddly islanders
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/58805312

[ssp]

All categories of the FIH Stars Awards were won by Indian players and our coaches!
http://www.fih.ch/news/stars-awards-oly ... for-india/

This is was purely because of the silly voting system, where fans made up a large percentage of the total votes cast. Only the coaches, Vivek and Harmanpreet had valid cases to be even included in the candidates for the awards. Gurjit Kaur is not even the best player in the Indian team, yet is now world player of the year.

[rajitghosh]

At least good to see India throwing its weight. Hope it applies to umpiring.

[jaydeep]

This is was purely because of the silly voting system, where fans made up a large percentage of the total votes cast. Only the coaches, Vivek and Harmanpreet had valid cases to be even included in the candidates for the awards. Gurjit Kaur is not even the best player in the Indian team, yet is now world player of the year.

Agree with you, I would consider Sreejesh and Savita also in the candidates for the awards ... But 50% vote weightage was also consider for the final decision, surprised to see Belgium players missed awards.

Votes from national associations counted for 50 per cent of the overall result, while fans and players (25 per cent) as well as media (25 per cent), accounted for the other half.

[Omkara]

Is the fitness requirement for hockey very different from that of football?

For football, one needs footwork, skill that is different I agree. But overall fitness? Shouldn't it be similar? And if it is, then why is it that our footballers are so behind the world?

[Atithee]

Because very few teams play hockey? Soccer is the most popular sport in the world, if I were to guess.

[jayakris]

Yeah, kids around the world play a lot less hockey than in India, and Indian kids play a whole lot less football than around the world. That is all.

Football ground space per capita for kids in India is probably the lowest in the world (also per square km). Hockey ground space is probably zero around the world and India probably has slightly more than that, which on relative terms makes a difference.

Basically there is no comparison between football and hockey. The latter is taken as 1/100th as important as football by kids around the world,if even that. In fact every sport is taken as no more than 1/4th as important as football by kids under the age 10 around the world. In India, another sport is taken as 10 times as important as football, and that takes out early development in all other sports among a prohibitively huge population of Indian kids.

That makes it 1/40, the number of talented/athletic kids who would even try to start early in football in India. Then disorganization in youth football and ground availability make the number of kids who have any hope in football even less - ie, those with say some 200 hours of play or coaching by high school age. The number of football-ready kids in India at age 13 is probably 1/100th per capita compared to the world for all these reasons. So, instead of 1.4B country, our football is more like that of a country of 14 million people, if at all)

I parrot myself, and have been doing that for a couple of decades here, of course

[Atithee]

That was a bait, Jay. You couldn’t resist.

[jayakris]

^^^ Haha. I knew it. I don't even try to resist it when I know it, because I am so convinced of it as to parrot myself for ever

[Omkara]

That was a bait, Jay. You couldn’t resist.

Ha ha ha. But good work Jay. I was speaking to someone and wondering why we have so many good badminton players and not the same in tennis. The answer was same. Very few countries play badminton. Tennis is a game played by the fittest of counties and with highest per capita wealth.

[prasen9]

Jay, are your numbers talking about boy's events? In the girls' football is popular in the U.S. but so is hockey (which they call field hockey, per my anecdotal sampling; correct me if I am wrong) and the numbers would not be as stacked as you have provided. I do not know if hockey is popular among girls outside the U.S. though.

[jayakris]

^^^ Yes, I was only talking about boys' events. Football is popular among u12 girls only in some places like the US; not around the world. "Field hockey" is indeed a popular sport for girls in the US. Actually Indian women's hockey becoming better than USA's women hockey over the last couple of decades had made me curious about why that happened. USA was better some time ago. Simply from the exposure to the game on TV and availability of some coaches who know hockey in India, possibly.

[Sin Hombre]

Field hockey is the most popular sport for girls in the Netherlands.