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Recent Performances Indian national hockey team has got fifth position In the Asian cup played in Malaysia and it has distressed the Indian hockey lovers. At one hand it was being expected that Indian team will repeat its previous month’s performance but on the other hand it could not qualify even for the semifinal of the Asian cup. It must be learnt that last month Indian team had won the Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey Cup after the gap of fourteen years. We can say that Indian team’s performance is like the swing of pendulum and nobody can predict its performance. Two years ago, in the final of the Asia cup that was played in Chennai, Indian team had secured a thumping victory over their arch-rivals Pakistan. Before that, they had failed to qualify even for the semifinal of the last two tournaments. They had failed even to qualify for the 2008’s Olympic Games. A ray of hope was seen from Indian team’s success in the Argentina, Australia, New Zealand and Punjab Gold Cup performances. The victory of the Azlan Shah Cup had given rise to the hopes that Indian team will repeat its success story of 2003 to 2007 under the Coaching of Harinder Singh. But the Indian team’s recent failure once again reminded us about its pendulum-story. Asia Cup’s eight times winner’s return to their homeland empty handed is hurting the hockey lovers. Seven teams had taken part in the Asia Cup and India was positioned at the fifth position after the competition. It defeated Bangladesh by 11-1 while faced defeat by 3-2 in the hands of arch rivals Pakistan. It had tied with China by 2-2 while had defeated Japan by 5-1. South Korea lifted the cup by defeating Pakistan in the final.

Challenges Ahead Delhi Commonwealth games and the 2010’s Hockey world Cup are the two main challenges for the Indian Hockey Team ahead. It is the fortune that Asia Cup winner gets straight entry into the World Cup competition and India is taking part in this tournament because it is hosting the cup. Twelve teams will take part in this games and it is the hurting fact that Indian team’s ranking in this cup it 12th. It is very distressful fact that eight times winner of World Cup is so low ranked. After the fall of Gill-Jyotikumaran dictatorship, Indian Olympic Association is in charge of the Indian Hockey and it has appointed Spain’s Jose Manual Brasa as its new coach.

Coaches Under the coaching of Brasa, Spain’s women hockey team had won 1992’s Women Hockey World Cup. He will guide the Indian hockey team till 2010’s Asian Hockey cup. After that the time of his tenure can be increase for every quarter of the year according to the performance of the team. Spain’s David Terez has been appointed as the physical trainer of the team. Brasa will get 50 Lakh rupees while Tarez will get 40 lakh rupees annually. Before Brasa, Indian team was being coached by Harinder Singh with the help of former captain Dhanraj Pilay and Ramandeep Grewal, Harinder coached the Indian team to secure some comprehensive victories. Before him Indian team was being coached by Australian coach Rick Carlworth who was a famous player of his time. Team could learn a lot from him but he resigned because of differences with the related ministry, federation and the technical staff of the team. Before him Jokim Karval was Indian team’s coach who had played more than 200 hundred matches for the Indian team but he too resigned because Indian team had failed to qualify for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Before that during the rule of Gill-Jyotikumaran, various coaches coached the Indian team but they all failed because of federation’s monopolistic policies and some personal interests of the federation heads. In 2008 we saw the downfall of the 14 years old Gill-Jyotikumaran dictatorship and now Indian Olympic Association is handling the affairs. International Hockey federation is keeping a hawk’s eye on the Indian hockey and its head Leander Negro has given India the chance of organizing the 2010’s Hockey World Cup after getting the promise that a single hockey federation will be made after dissolving the men’s and women’s hockey federations to bring back the glorious days of Indian hockey. To uplift the level of Indian hockey, Indian Olympic Association’s ad hock committee was working as was being expected. Brasa has been appointed according to the guidelines of the IHF. Some voices have been raised against IHF’s interference in the Indian Hockey affairs but the question is related with the performance of the team. If we compare hockey with the cricket then we find it that Indian Cricket team has always performed well under the guidance of foreigner coaches. Whether it was Jon Wright or Gary Kirston the truth behind Indian cricket team’s success was it that there was no communication gap between the coaches and the players. Ian Chappel, too, was a good coach but the differences between him and captain Ganguly had affected team’s performance. Brasa, too, is a good coach. He should give extra care to understand to feelings of the Indian players only then he can get best out of them. For it he has wished to learn Hindi. The coach should be given a free hand in selection of the team. He should be given the right to choose his favorite players out of the pool of fifty players.

Players and Coach If the players are assured that they will remain with the team then they will give their best performance without any fear. Third thing that Indian hockey lacks is that the Coach and the team should be given its due exposure. At the international level they play a very few matches. Many national level tournaments have lost their glory. In such circumstances how the Indian players can perform well if they have not been chosen after tough competitions. At the other hand lack of professionalism has forced the new talent to find alternatives. So we can say that there are many challenges ahead of Brasa but let us see how he performs when there is a hidden struggle between the dictatorship of some former hockey sympathizers and the new initiatives to solve the problems of IH.

Champions Challenge Cup Every player loves to play an always hates the defeats but wishes to win. Indian players play attacking hockey and they have a lot of talent but then necessity is to make them believe in their self and assure them that they are made to win. Indian hockey tactics are still considered to be the best in the world and Indian hockey players are still at their best in their Indian hockey tactics. Indian Hockey is termed as the classical way of playing and is liked for its fare performance. Victory is their dream and they have set their sights on the 2010 world cup that will be played in their own country. To improve its ranking Indian team will have to perform better than the teams of the Belgium, Canada, Argentina, China, New Zealand, Pakistan and South Africa during the Champions Challenge Cup that will be played from 6 to 13 December.