There's sure allure about Indian hockey that continues to make it a widely debated and adopted game within the nation in spite of years of underachievement. Time and once more, hopes of a return to its superb previous are raised but they ultimately crash with a shocking thud. The fresh India males's hockey teams may not benefit from the position of an unchallenged authority of its predecessors but however, each time it takes the field, the expectancies invariably are sky high. The 2017 was once no different and was once any other instance of the mixed fortunes Indian hockey has turn into familiar with bear season after season.
ALSO READ: Winning Asia Cup nice, but want to succeed in 2018: Rani
It was once a season which may be divided into two halves of unequal proportion. In the first part, comprising the first 9 months, the men's group underperformed and the ladies's gave mixed effects. The males's season started in overdue April in Malaysia where they have been one of the favourites to win the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup. But for the second one 12 months in a row, they didn't make it to the general and needed to contend with a third-place end. Captain PR Sreejesh ended up hurting his knee during the development and he had to sit down out for the rest of the 12 months. In his absence, younger Manpreet Singh was once handed the captain's armband.
A month later, India travelled to London for the Hockey World League Semi Final. The tournament proved to be a crisis. They lost to a lowly Canada of their final match, finishing a poor 6th. In the gap of a month, they'd failed twice at the world degree.
The poor effects induced the control to rapid monitor a number of juniors into the senior group for a 10-day Europe Tour where they confronted Olympic silver medallist Belgium and powerhouse Netherlands. They lost each their video games against Belgium but managed to upset Netherlands Four-3 and 2-1. They ended the European sojourn with a Four-3 win against Austria. The performances weren't outstanding but indisputably served as a balm to minimize the pain in their fresh struggles.
However, the European tour additionally precipitated the go out of coach Roelant Oltmans as he was once sacked in September through Hockey India (HI) during a three-day meet where the group's performance during the last season was once reviewed. 'Lack of effects past a undeniable stage' was once cited as the imply reason why behind the decision. Thus, the custom of HI getting rid of high-profile coaches without caution continued.
In a stark contrast, their ladies counterpart started the 12 months on a blazing be aware. They blanked a lowly Belarus 5-0 in a five-Test collection and then completed on the best within the Women's Hockey World League Round 2 in Canada. But the consequences have been reversed within the subsequent two tournaments. They suffered 0-5 whitewash by the hands of New Zealand in a Test collection in May and then completed eighth on the Hockey World League Semi Final Johannesburg 2017. It additionally served as a qualifier for the 2018 World Cup and India didn't seal their berth. Mirroring their male counterparts, the ladies group additionally toured Europe where they produced mixed effects - shedding twice to a neighborhood Dutch ladies group but drawing and profitable a recreation each against Belgium junior males's group.
The hockey control was once watching all this quietly from a distance. And after showing Oltmans the door, they unusually asked the ladies group coach Sjoerd Marijne to take over the men's group in September. And Harendra Singh, who was once the frontrunner for the task after guiding the junior group to world identify, was once given the rate of the ladies's group.
The roughly shakeup isn't a novelty to India hockey setup. Every such choice brings with it a number of controversies which ultimately peter out into renewed hopes. And Marijne did no hurt to those expectations.
Within simply two months in rate, he instilled a change in taste of play. Consistency was the key phrase for the men's group. In his first project, he led his fees to a gold medal on the Asia Cup in Dhaka. The group returned undefeated, laying fingers at the identify after 10 years. Harendra additionally started his tenure on a profitable be aware. They additionally returned undefeated profitable the identify after 12 years. More importantly, through finishing on the best, they qualified for the arena cup on merit.
The males's group had one closing project left and so they defended their bronze medal on the Hockey World League Final in Odisha. It was once a tournament that saw the worst and absolute best of Indian hockey, leaving everyone puzzled why the group fails to deal with the consistency against best opponents.
Manpreet zealously defended the poor presentations but even he is aware of the group is but to compare the level of the teams of the likes of Australia and Germany - a group that pushed them to their limits within the bronze medal match in spite of playing with simply 11 fit avid gamers, no substitution and regular goalkeeper serving as a makeshift ahead. While the 12 months may have ended on a good be aware and Marjine has 'effects' to show for in his first two attempts, the take a look at of group's growth will be for everybody to look in a packed 2018.
2017 should have served as the drafting board where the each the teams - men and women - would have known their weaknesses and strengths. The incontrovertible fact that they played the top teams in high-intensity tournaments should have given them the needful data ahead of the 12 months when they've Commonwealth Games, Asiad, Champions Trophy and the all-important world cups within the house of 12 months.
While the Asia Cup triumph can not alone be the yardstick to judge how far the ladies group has come from the low of Johannesburg, it indisputably is a step in the right direction. The avid gamers have started showing the confidence and aggression they so sorely neglected during the disastrous Rio Olympics.
They pounded 28 targets in six video games on the Asia Cup including a 10-0 thrashing of Singapore which is a proof sufficient in their new-found aggression. If Harendra is to be believed, the performance was once a foundation for the upcoming demanding situations and he's confident the group to win no less than two medals in 2018.
As group captain Rani Rampal recently informed TOI during an interaction, the group's 'mindset' has modified and they are 'made up our minds to end up which might be good". And that translated into a miles stepped forward and authoritative effects. They will want more of that modified mindset and resolution in 2018.
ALSO READ: Winning Asia Cup nice, but want to succeed in 2018: Rani
It was once a season which may be divided into two halves of unequal proportion. In the first part, comprising the first 9 months, the men's group underperformed and the ladies's gave mixed effects. The males's season started in overdue April in Malaysia where they have been one of the favourites to win the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup. But for the second one 12 months in a row, they didn't make it to the general and needed to contend with a third-place end. Captain PR Sreejesh ended up hurting his knee during the development and he had to sit down out for the rest of the 12 months. In his absence, younger Manpreet Singh was once handed the captain's armband.
A month later, India travelled to London for the Hockey World League Semi Final. The tournament proved to be a crisis. They lost to a lowly Canada of their final match, finishing a poor 6th. In the gap of a month, they'd failed twice at the world degree.
The poor effects induced the control to rapid monitor a number of juniors into the senior group for a 10-day Europe Tour where they confronted Olympic silver medallist Belgium and powerhouse Netherlands. They lost each their video games against Belgium but managed to upset Netherlands Four-3 and 2-1. They ended the European sojourn with a Four-3 win against Austria. The performances weren't outstanding but indisputably served as a balm to minimize the pain in their fresh struggles.
However, the European tour additionally precipitated the go out of coach Roelant Oltmans as he was once sacked in September through Hockey India (HI) during a three-day meet where the group's performance during the last season was once reviewed. 'Lack of effects past a undeniable stage' was once cited as the imply reason why behind the decision. Thus, the custom of HI getting rid of high-profile coaches without caution continued.
In a stark contrast, their ladies counterpart started the 12 months on a blazing be aware. They blanked a lowly Belarus 5-0 in a five-Test collection and then completed on the best within the Women's Hockey World League Round 2 in Canada. But the consequences have been reversed within the subsequent two tournaments. They suffered 0-5 whitewash by the hands of New Zealand in a Test collection in May and then completed eighth on the Hockey World League Semi Final Johannesburg 2017. It additionally served as a qualifier for the 2018 World Cup and India didn't seal their berth. Mirroring their male counterparts, the ladies group additionally toured Europe where they produced mixed effects - shedding twice to a neighborhood Dutch ladies group but drawing and profitable a recreation each against Belgium junior males's group.
The hockey control was once watching all this quietly from a distance. And after showing Oltmans the door, they unusually asked the ladies group coach Sjoerd Marijne to take over the men's group in September. And Harendra Singh, who was once the frontrunner for the task after guiding the junior group to world identify, was once given the rate of the ladies's group.
The roughly shakeup isn't a novelty to India hockey setup. Every such choice brings with it a number of controversies which ultimately peter out into renewed hopes. And Marijne did no hurt to those expectations.
Within simply two months in rate, he instilled a change in taste of play. Consistency was the key phrase for the men's group. In his first project, he led his fees to a gold medal on the Asia Cup in Dhaka. The group returned undefeated, laying fingers at the identify after 10 years. Harendra additionally started his tenure on a profitable be aware. They additionally returned undefeated profitable the identify after 12 years. More importantly, through finishing on the best, they qualified for the arena cup on merit.
The males's group had one closing project left and so they defended their bronze medal on the Hockey World League Final in Odisha. It was once a tournament that saw the worst and absolute best of Indian hockey, leaving everyone puzzled why the group fails to deal with the consistency against best opponents.
Manpreet zealously defended the poor presentations but even he is aware of the group is but to compare the level of the teams of the likes of Australia and Germany - a group that pushed them to their limits within the bronze medal match in spite of playing with simply 11 fit avid gamers, no substitution and regular goalkeeper serving as a makeshift ahead. While the 12 months may have ended on a good be aware and Marjine has 'effects' to show for in his first two attempts, the take a look at of group's growth will be for everybody to look in a packed 2018.
2017 should have served as the drafting board where the each the teams - men and women - would have known their weaknesses and strengths. The incontrovertible fact that they played the top teams in high-intensity tournaments should have given them the needful data ahead of the 12 months when they've Commonwealth Games, Asiad, Champions Trophy and the all-important world cups within the house of 12 months.
While the Asia Cup triumph can not alone be the yardstick to judge how far the ladies group has come from the low of Johannesburg, it indisputably is a step in the right direction. The avid gamers have started showing the confidence and aggression they so sorely neglected during the disastrous Rio Olympics.
They pounded 28 targets in six video games on the Asia Cup including a 10-0 thrashing of Singapore which is a proof sufficient in their new-found aggression. If Harendra is to be believed, the performance was once a foundation for the upcoming demanding situations and he's confident the group to win no less than two medals in 2018.
As group captain Rani Rampal recently informed TOI during an interaction, the group's 'mindset' has modified and they are 'made up our minds to end up which might be good". And that translated into a miles stepped forward and authoritative effects. They will want more of that modified mindset and resolution in 2018.
India hockey review: Promising results but sterner tests await
![India hockey review: Promising results but sterner tests await]()
Reviewed by Kailash
on
January 03, 2018
Rating:
