Indian hockey’s precious diamonds need to be recognised

The Indian women’s team celebrating their bronze medal finish at the Junior Hockey World Cup

Now that a new dawn has arisen in Indian hockey, with the unheralded, spectacular and never before achieved success of the junior India girls Under-21 team, winning the bronze medal to take a seat in the world’s elite roster, it is necessary to understand the meaning of the statement of this winning team’s experienced assistant/former national coach, S Kumar.

“We have to ensure that we build on this win. It should be used as a catalyst to do well in the World Cups and the Olympics. It won’t be easy, but these girls have shown that they can compete with the best on big stages,” he said.

In hockey speak – we need to pool our resources together, build consensus, and work as a team, and the same results can be achieved in the future, both for women and men.

Towards that aim, it is appropriate to recognize and cherish Indian hockey’s precious gems, who can make a difference in Indian hockey if handled well, as they deservingly should be.

It is not only the administration that needs to be cognizant of these individuals; the whole country should cherish them, either with recognition or benefits. Here, to introduce the concept of “world-class”, we need to bring in the most popular politician in India, Mr Narendra Modi.

Whatever you may consider his politics, his controversies, there is no doubt that as a politician, administrator and speaker, and including his audience connect and meteoric rise from a humble background, he is absolutely world-class in his field.

There is a similar vein running through all the individuals and institutions mentioned below.

Monster talent - Rani Rampal & Gurjinder Singh.

Both are 18. These two are absolute gems that need to be handled with kid gloves because they’re going to make a difference in Indian hockey in future. Both of them need India’s support.

They need personal trainers or individual coaches, proper guidance, stints abroad for continued hockey education. With Gurjinder Singh being relatively well off now, what with his being WSH Player of the Year, a massive award, that should not be difficult. He needs to become a complete player and he needs specialized PC training with the best experts in the world from Holland.

It is an entirely different situation with Rani, who will need not only judicious handling of her health issues, rehabilitation and an injury prevention specific program, but also other forms of monetary support for hockey education purposes to fulfill her potential.

India captain Sardara Singh.

Another absolutely precious gem. A future FIH Player of the Year. He has been appropriately recognized by India and the world, but needs judicious handling to sustain the longevity of his career.

His skills are breath-taking and he epitomizes what hockey should be all about. He’s a great ambassador for our game. Plus, the country needs to surround him with teammates who can take his career towards the natural fulfillment that it deserves, in establishing his Indian team amongst the elite in the world.

India’s best young hockey brain, Dhananjay Mahadik.

Nicknamed by coach Brasa as dimag (brain in Hindi), he was appropriately recognized by India for the hockey brain that he is, by being invited as a strategic video analyst for the Indian national team.

This was after he did an outstanding job with the Delhi WaveRiders in the Hockey India League – the only Indian strategic video analyst amongst his world peers, and a rare national player/video analyst combo.

Why this brainy hockey player was discarded from the national team is not part of this discussion. But it goes without saying that right from his teens, when he lost his dad, he has shown tremendous enterprise, single-mindedness and drive, and leadership qualities both for his army team & for India, to orchestrate his meteoric rise.

It is correctly stated that he gained immense knowledge from coach Brasa, and he will now act as a conduit for that information, from which the country will surely benefit for many years to come. Plus with his intrinsic ability and history, we can only see this knowledge advance further. India needs to look after this gem.