Know your Indian Hockey team: The men who got us the bronze on Sunday
Sunday night saw an absolutely spectacular comeback by the Indian Mens Hockey team as they overcame a 2-0 first half deficit to net in 5 goals to eventually draw the match at 5-5 and then thanks to a superb PR Sreejesh and an equally nerveless Rupinder pal Singh, The Men in Blue clinched the shootout 3-2 to win their first medal in an International Hockey Federation (FIH) in 33 years.The team has put in some extremely commendable performances in the last few years and it has taken a lot of hard work and some major reforms in the setup to overcome the debacle of the 2012 London Olympics, where the team finished a miserable 12thand failed to win a single game.Here are a few things to know about some of the players of the present team:NOTE: Nothing has been taken from the rest of the unit. Just that the following seven played a much bigger role in the win.
#1 Sardar Singh
One of the more encouraging aspects in Indian sport in recent times has been the emergence of players from the Tier 2 and 3 cities and them going on to lead the country to glory. The most prominent example of this, of course, is that of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who provided a whole host of not just sportsmen, but the general public in smaller towns the belief to dream bing and fulfill them as well.
The skipper of the Indian hockey team – Sardar Singh – also belongs to the same bracket as Dhoni, hailing from Santnagar village in Rania Tehsil Sirsa region in Haryana.
Having made his debut in 2003-04 season, the midfielder became the youngest ever Indian to lead the side when he captained them at the age of 23 at the 2008 Sultan Azlan Shah Cup.
Under his leadership, the team has scaled various heights like winning the gold at the 2014 Asia Cup in Incheon, beating Australia in a Test series for the first time in history in their own backyard and then clinching the bronze at the Hockey World League Final last night.
He personally has had a chequered career, having won the Man of the Tournament at the 2010 Azlan Shah Cup and also being a part of the 18 man FIH team in 2010. The big questions now is: Like he led India to their first Asiad gold in 16 years in Incheon in 2014, will he lead them to a first Olympic gold in 36 years next year in Rio? Only time will tell.