Barely three months before the men’s hockey World Cup begins in Bhubaneswar, the Indian team has suffered a rude jolt by not being able to reach the final of the 18th Asian Games at Jakarta. A lot of hype is being generated surrounding the World Cup with Odisha getting a lot of attention not only as the ‘cradle of Indian hockey’ but also as the promoter and host of the world event.
India had a fantastic run in the Asian Games at Jakarta steamrolling lesser opponents to score a staggering 76 goals in the five matches they played in the round robin league stage to finish at the top of the group. The Indians scored a goal every 3.9 minutes — a staggering feat.
They conceded only three goals in these matches, all three coming during the team’s 5-3 victory over South Korea.
With the players in red hot form, it was expected that India would put it across Malaysia, always a tricky customer, in the semifinals. But the method and clinical finish which the team displayed in earlier matches evaporated as the tenacious Malaysians looked more menacing in attack. India’s old failing of conceding goals in the dying minutes and messing up chances in the rival circle again returned to hunt them as Malaysia, trailing 1-2 with two minutes to go, equalised.
In the two rounds of shoot-out that followed, India lost with skipper PR Sreejesh conceding five goals in the second set. A gold medal here would have meant India would play in the next Olympics. Now India has to go through the qualifiers.
It is, however, a fact that Malaysia has bothered India and remained a thorn in the flesh for decades. In most hockey matches played between the two teams in the Asiad, India has managed to win by a goal or two with Malaysia ousting India 4-3 in the Guangzhou semifinal
in 2010. The biggest victory that India could carve out against Malaysia was 6-0 in the Asian Games held at Tokyo in 1958 followed by a 5-1 win in the New Delhi Asian Games in 1982.
Malaysia played India, led by the redoubtable Ajitpal Singh, in the semifinals of the 3rd World Cup held at Kuala Lumpur in 1975. The hosts led 2-1 till the last few minutes when penalty corner expert Aslam Sher Khan put paid to their aspirations. India came from behind to win 3-2. The team went on to win the World Cup, for the first and last time, defeating Pakistan 2-1 in the final. Malaysia, apparently, seized on the errors and emerged victorious. That they lost to Japan in the final is another matter.
Japan, who beat Pakistan 1-0 in the other semifinal, provided the biggest twist in the tournament when they went on to win the gold scripting a superb come from behind (they were trailing 1-4 after 17 minutes) story to draw level 6-6 during regulation time.
Japan scored four goals in the last eight minutes and went on to derail Malaysia 3-1 in the shoot-out to be crowned Asian champions for the first time.
The irony is that the same Indian team had mauled the gold medal winning team 8-0 in the group stage.
Malaysia, despite such periodic heroics, has never been able to win any tournament of importance in the Asian or world stage.
Pakistan has won the Asian Games gold medal eight times followed by South Korea (four), India (three) and now Japan.
The Indian team, in the preliminary matches, looked unstoppable finding the target at will. In the process they also registered the country’s biggest ever victory when they rolled over weak Hong Kong 26-0 thus erasing the previous record set in 1932 when India thrashed USA 24-1 in the Olympic Games.
India’s failure to reach the Asiad final points to an inherent weakness of the team crumbling under pressure. The squads the hosts would face in the World Cup would be much more formidable than they encountered at Jakarta.
Hockey India has mercifully decided to retain coach Harendra Singh till the World Cup. In fact, a coach could not be expected to rectify the errors players make on the field. He can only watch helplessly from the sidelines. It is the players who should be hauled up and it should be drilled into them not to make the same mistakes again and again. Holding a gun at the head of the coach all the time would be of little help.
Former Indian captain Viren Rasquina said steps should be taken now to fix the problems so that the frailties exposed in Jakarta doesn’t show up in Bhubaneswar.
The Indian team won the World Cup for the only time in 1975 and the Olympic gold in 1980 at Moscow in a truncated field as the European giants and Australia did not participate.
The last time India entered the semifinals of the World Cup was in 1975 when they became champions. Pakistan, no longer the force they used to be, had won the tournament for the highest number of four times since its inception in 1971. Ever since, the Netherlands, Germany, Australia, Spain, England and even Argentina have taken giant strides to dominate the game.
With the European method of power hockey clearly eclipsing the razzle-dazzle of Asian style, dribblers weaving their way into the ‘D’ to score field goals or setting up other players to find the board is missing today. The likes of Ashok Kumar, the son of wizard Dhyan Chand, and late Mohammed Shahid who could mesmerize opponents with their stick work are no more in evidence.
The bronze medal the Indian team won in Jakarta defeating Pakistan 2-1 will be of little solace. But the players and coach now should sit down to introspect and correct the mistakes. A good showing in the Bhubaneswar World Cup would go a long way in providing the much needed impetus to hockey in the country.
(The writer is a Bhubaneswar-based senior journalist)