Champions trophy Hockey 2014, Bhubaneswar- Dec. 6-14

[sameerph]

This year's champions trophy hockey will be held in India in December in Bhubaneswar, Orisa in December.

The draw was made yesterday and we are in tougher pool.

Pool A
Australia
Belgium
England
Pakistan

Pool B
Netherlands
Germany
Argentina
India

So,we have runner up and bronze medalist of this year's world cup and gold medalists of 2012 olympics all in our group. So, any win at group stage will be an achievement.

[gautam]

How come New Zealand is not there in the tournament?

[sameerph]

Because, NZ did not finish in top 5 in last champions trophy. In fact, we did finish 4th in last champions trophy and so would have qualified even if we were not the hosts.

Hope we can at least equal our last showing and finish in top 4.

[PKBasu]

With home support, and Terry Walsh as coach, we could well win our pool and avoid playing Australia in the semifinal!

[jayakris]

Why avoid Australia? We have started a habit of beating them these days

[PKBasu]

Play and beat them in the final. Why bother with the SF ?

[jayakris]

Play and beat them in the final. Why bother with the SF ?

Ah I see... Clever indeed

[PKBasu]

But seriously, if we are playing in an organised manner we should be able to beat Holland and Argentina on home grounds. Germany seem to be pretty off key currently too, so we can't rule out winning the pool.

[sameerph]

Actually, these group matches are only to decide the QF match-ups (not SF.). But, hope we win 2 of our 3 group matches which should give us a QF against England or Pakistan rather than Australia or Belgium.

[ssp]

Here's our team for the CT:
Goalkeepers: P R Sreejesh (vice-captain); Harjot Singh; Defenders: Rupinder Pal Singh, V R Raghunath, Birendra Lakra, Kothajit Singh, Gurbaj Singh, Gurjinder Singh; Midfielders: Manpreet Singh, Sardar Singh, Dharamvir Singh, Danish Mujtaba, S K Uthappa; Forwards: Ramandeep Singh, S V Sunil, Akashdeep Singh, Nikkin Thimmaiah, Lalit Upadhyay.

Almost unimportant in comparison to the HI/Walsh fiasco. Oltmans will be in charge or now, but we cold be looking at some Indian coach next- perhaps Dhanraj Pillay?

[jayakris]

Oltmans will be in charge or now, but we cold be looking at some Indian coach next- perhaps Dhanraj Pillay?

Yeah.

[gautam]

Why is that everyone is against Dhanraj Pillay becoming the coach of the Indian team? Unarguably he is the best player we have ever produced after the great Dhyanchand. Dhanraj is presently the coach of the Air India team and I see no harm in giving him an opportunity of proving his credentials. However, I would want him to take over after the Rio Olympics. Till then, if Walsh does not come back, I would like to see Oltman taking over along with Kaushik and Felix

[PKBasu]

I love Dhanraj Pillay -- and I think Jay and ssp also loved him as a a player.
I think there is a general feeling here that Indian "Olympians" tend to be out of their depth as coaches -- especially because India have not produced a world-beating performance during most of their careers. I am somewhat sympathetic to this view, but would never puke at the idea of Dhanraj Pillay as coach of the Indian team (or assistant to Oltmans). As a player, Dhanraj was a cut above anyone in India over the past 20 years (with only Pargat, as a defender, and recently Sardara possibly close to him). But he IS untested as a coach at the international level, so going with someone like him is a huge risk. That he played so many years in the German league would suggest that he is aware of the best training methods around the world, though. How good he is at strategy is something I cannot comment on (yet).

All that said, my first preference -- by a long way!! -- is for Terry Walsh to be retained!!

[prasen9]

What coaching credentials does Pillay have? I would rather go with someone who understands modern hockey.

When one makes comments as these: Foreign coaches not helping Indian hockey that means he does not have a handle on what is wrong with Indian hockey. Hockey today requires a different style than the individualistic style that Pillay grew up with and was brilliant at. He has not said anything that shows me that he has a good diagnosis on the patient and thus I am not very hopeful of having him as the doctor.

[suresh]

Dhanraj was a great hockey player. It does not follow that he will be a good coach unless he can prove his credentials somewhere.