Is India ready for hockey World Cup 2018?

Difficult job ahead

September 2007, in the final of the inaugural T20 World Cup, India were on the verge of victory and the sense of patriotism in people increasing every moment, the Indian flag flew high.

When all this was happening, what people didn’t realise was that there was a song being played in the background, a song which was giving goosebumps to almost all the Indians. The song being played was ‘Chak De India’. This song was an effort in itself to remind people, that there are sports other then cricket; there are sports like hockey among others.

Until sometime back, hockey enjoyed the status of being the national sport of India, but the Government of India has recently denied hockey being the national sport.

India’s 1936 Gold medal winning hockey team, captained by Dhyan Chand (Standing second from left)

There was a time when India dominated hockey. The first ever hockey world cup was won by India in the year 1975; India has also won a total of 8 Olympic gold medals in hockey. But after the Olympic gold in 1980, India’s performance in this game changed from bad to worse year after year. And this was clear when India couldn’t even manage to qualify for the 2008 Olympics, and when they did in 2012, they finished last.

The internal politics involved didn’t do any good to the state of Indian hockey. India currently occupies a lowly 11th spot in the latest rankings in the International Hockey Federation.

Now that India has been decided upon as the venue for Hockey World Cup 2018, it is high time to revive the Indian hockey and bring the glory days back to this sport.

Revival of Indian hockey

In the time of despair, every Indian needs to stand beside the sport that brought glory to India, a sport which brought India its first gold medal at the Olympics.

Steps that could revive Indian hockey

Discover young talent; send out scouts to find talented youngsters. India is a country where in many youngsters have the potential to represent at international level, but often such talent go unnoticed due to various reasons. There should be events organised, just to bring out the youth in numbers. Every part of the country must be scanned and positive results would come, not immediately but definitely.

Advertising the game in each and every quarter. Try and popularize the game as much as possible. Use the media to send out a message across India, from small villages to big cities. Start campaigning, starting on a smaller scale and ending on a high note. The intention of every campaign must be to highlight the importance of the game -Hockey.

Use our former players as coaches and strategist. A lot of former players are talented, and their talent must be utilized in different ways. If they think they are old to get on the pitch and play, they should be at least used from the sidelines providing technical support for players.

Transparency in the process of team selection. For many years, Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) has been running like a government body. The management system must take a cue from the BCCI working pattern; there is no doubt that cricket is a popular sport in India but, what makes it so popular is the fact that the advertising and marketing of the sport is done on such a high level that it is almost impossible to bring other sports on the forefront. And also Indian hockey can be benefitted with the appointment of managers; like in the case of IPL they had Lalit Modi.

Need to find a coach who could bring out the best from the players available, and at the same time not deviate from the style of play they are used to. Foreign coaches can be given a chance in this aspect.

Organising tournaments such as Hockey India League (HIL) on a grand note, by bringing in many experienced foreign players, and making sure the event turns out to be a success.

Apart from these, another factor that could really help in the revival of the game is the support, the trust put in by fans in the players and the team. There are many people who are critical about the team’s performance but at the same time, they should come forward and lend their support. This can make a huge difference.

Every possibility of reaching the top

Hope India turns out to be the surprise package in the 2018 World Cup but, before that, hopefully finish the World Cup 2014 on a spectacular note.