Misc. news about Indian hockey

[mugu]

The ones at Gandhinagar, Patiala, Kolkata and Rourkela might be replacement for worn-out existing ones. Some of them have been there for close to 20 years without being replaced.

[jaydeep]

37 yrs old Dhanraj declared that he is completely fit and can withstand the rigours of international hockey ... He also added that youngsters in the side need experienced players like him to guide them through important events like the Asian Games and World Cup later this year.

Dhanraj confident of comeback

Jaydeep.

[PKBasu]

Good to see the old warhorse still raring to go. Given our especially dismal performances of late (SIXTH in the Commonwealth Games, distant third out of four in Moenchengladbach) there is a very strong case for his recall. But will the IHF oblige? (I hate the term "fading" with which the article began, btw).

[BSharma]

Dhanraj would make an excellent player-cum-assistant coach, but will IHF bosses and the head coach allow him to do so? Currently his strengths are experience, ability to bring attacking hockey for short bursts of periods, and guiding younger players. Pete Rose (baseball) was a player-cum-coach for sometime.

[BSharma]

Shankar Laxman was one of the finest goalkeeper in hockey and he played for the Indian Olympic teams in 1956, 1960 and 1964. He passed away on Saturday April 29, 2006.

Many coaches teach their players that defence wins matches, and Laxman was the Indian team's last layer of defence. India won the gold medal in 1964 and Laxman played a big role in this victory. Open the link to read about his exploits in the final against Pakistan in Tokyo.

India's last true `golden' Olympic moment

[PKBasu]

Thanks for that great link, Bhushan. The 1964 final was what made Laxman legendary, and I thought it rather pathetic that the PTI report failed to refer to this. From what I recall (from reading Saradindu Sanyal's classic about Indian hockey 30 years ago), Laxman saved not only numerous penalty corners but also a penalty stroke that magnificent day in Tokyo. (I was born that year, so Bhushan is the only one in our forum who actually saw this team in action before they set off for Tokyo!).

[BSharma]

Read a report about Shankar Laxman at Bhartiayahockey.

Ungrateful IHF Ignores Shankar Lakshman in Life and in Death

[ssp]

Indian juniors have beaten Pakistan 4-0 in U21 tournament in Poland.

http://www.rediff.com/sports/2006/may/30hock.htm

No PCs given away & 2 out of 6 resulted in Indian goals. That's very encouraging.

[PKBasu]

The juniors always do well -- that is one hopeful area that has certainly been evident over the past decade. We do not lack hockey talent, and there is always a decent pipeline of good young players. The problem is that the IHF then completely dissipates the talent pipeline when they "graduate" to the full national team.

[jaydeep]

Our Junior thrashed minnows Czech Republic 12-0 in their second match in under-21 invitation hockey tournament at Gniezn, Poland.

U-21 hockey: India maul Czech Republic 12-0

True PKB, we r having talents in junior level ... But problem is we r not nurturing them properly to inject in seniors and IHF's handling heir cases is poorly.

Jaydeep.

[jaydeep]

Our Junior continues to dominating U-21 tournament ... In 3rd match they defeated Russia 10-2 and now sitting on the top in six nation tournament ... Now next match is crucial, its against another title contender Germany.

India blitz Russia with perfect 10

Jaydeep.

[ssp]

Juniors have beaten Germany 3-2 today. hat virtually assures us of winning the tournament (unless we lose to Poland by 2-3 goals!!).

Good news from the men for a change.

[PKBasu]

ssp, we need to separate the men from the boys. Our boys always do well when they are boys (juniors) but never quite match-up when they become men. The lacuna is basically inadequate coaching and nurturing in the crucial years during which they are moving from the junior to the national-team ranks.

[ssp]

PKB, yes we have to differentiate juniors from the seniors.

The same players can look like world beaters at U21 level & play so ineptly once they go to the seniors. I saw the 1997 team play display breath-taking skills against Australia in the U21 WC final, yet none of those players could hold down a place in the Indian senior squad (apart from Tirkey & to a lesser extent, Saini) let alone excel when it mattered ( Olympics & WCs). The same is broadly true of the 2001 U21 team & needless to say, not many of the 2005 U21 WC team will make a major impact on India's fortunes at senior level ( I hope I'm wrong on this!!).

I'm sure there are several good reasons why we can't translate the form of the juniors.

Firstly, we play stupid hockey at senior level. No tactics, no marking & never use our strengths. ( No -one looks to play the ball out of defence...just aimless scoops or idiotic hits from Kanwalpreet or Tirkey). Hopeles coaches, incredible selections & planning of tournaments....

Secondly, marking ( & consequently free space) is much tighter at the top level. We defend like idiots & give away space far too easily.

Fitness is at a totally different level. Our fitness levels go DOWN after 21 years of age.

Lastly, are our players all U21?? I really hope we are not cheating, but how come so many of our players seem to peak at '21' & then play worse afterwards (Thakur, Prabhjot, Bimal, Vikram Pillay etc..)?

We have (unfortuately) become 'conditioned' to being beaten...we have no self-belief!!

[jayakris]

Keep it coming, ssp. I have been a long-time believer of what you are saying. We just simply play unplanned stupid game at the senior level. Most teams from abroad get coached by people who can teach the simple "coachable" things with a simple X's and O's clipboards and drill that stuff into the players who probably were much less experienced and skilled at age 17 and 18 than their counterparts from India who have played a lot more "street hockey". In a year or two they get coached up to do a lot of simple things well, while the Indian kids go through coach after coach who talk about mindless things like "romance hockey", "attacking hockey", "subcontinental hockey" and all that crap, and do nothing about closely analyzing what the foreigners are doing. The other coaches (basically anybody who has a brain!) know exactly what to do to take us out of our usual idiotic style and our coaches do not have a clue how to avoid that. I am nowhere near the Indian team to know that this is what happens, but based on whatever I have seen on the field, no other explanation fits.

.. And yes, there have also been some age-cheating stuff there, but that is only a smaller part of this. It is coaching, stupid! .. Plain and simple.

Jay