Sport - Hockey

Indian team raises a spark of hope

— PHOTO: AP

Sandeep.

Chennai: Despite missing the trophy by a whisker in the Azlan Shah hockey tournament, and pushing a powerful entity such as Argentina to the dead-end, the inexperienced Indian team has raised a spark of hope. Significantly, both the finalists are not part of the Olympics, having failed to make the grade.

Even more outstanding, at least from India’s standpoint, was the victory over three qualifiers, Belgium, Canada and Pakistan.

This goes to prove that India was not beyond the league of the Beijing Olympics, and what happened at Santiago can at best be termed as a great misfortune.

On the contrary, the present composition of teams for the Olympics shows how shallow the challenges will be in Beijing for the top four, Australia, Germany, and the Netherlands.

But to portray the show at Ipoh, where India picked up the silver compared to the bronze last time, in a cocoon of “all is well” syndrome will be foolhardy.

That the team managed to put behind the drama of desertions and deliberate means employed to demoralise the team before departure underlines the resilience and fortitude of the youngsters.

Whatever be its commissions and omissions, the IHF shaped a vibrant junior programme for the under 20 which is now paying dividends.

The talent pool is fairly big; else you will not see three proficient drag flickers in one squad.

It was heartening to see Sandeep Singh — the top scorer, silencing his critics and Diwakar Ram attracting unusual attention. The third, Raghunath, suffered for want of opportunities.

By a queer sequence of circumstances, Joaquim Carlvaho and his assistant, Ramesh Parameswaran, have now made themselves irrelevant to the national team. Their stepping down can now be taken as voluntary, a move they wanted to make in the wake of the disastrous Olympic qualifier.

Coach A.K. Bansal deserves a big round of applause for managing the situation with aplomb making the best use of the resources available for him at Ipoh. That he was left to fend for himself only steeled him to do better.

This is the appropriate time to structure the coaching system. Bansals contribution in shaping juniors is exemplary. He is among the few like Raphael and C.R. Kumar, who showed a great level of understanding and enthusiasm to fashion juniors.

To elevate Bansal at this point to the permanent slot now virtually vacated by Carvalho is not the best step. He must continue to work with the juniors, identifying talent and get the best of them in the next Asian Championship at Hyderabad.

The situation is tailor- made for the powers-that-be to pave the way for Ric Charlesworth to take over the senior squad with the term fixed up to the Commonwealth Games and World Cup in 2010.

The Ipoh trip also consolidated the role of Pargat Singh as manager. Therefore, the nucleus of team management and training should now be in hands of the trio, Charlesworth, Bansal and Pargat Singh.

A few willing to work under this dispensation are not difficult to find. C.R. Kumar, who has a rich experience in training the juniors and seniors here, apart from enjoying a stint in Malaysia, can be roped in.

The benefit of working with Germany’s erudite Paul Lissek, in Malaysia gives Kumar a broader vision.

The best, however, is to leave the decision making in this regard to Charlesworth to select the supporting staff he needs to carry out his task without any hindrance.

This does not seem to be a tall order; and achieving a consensus on this issue is unlikely to face any resistance.

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