India: IHF's brain-Raching policy misplaced
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| India |
December 6, 2004
The Times of India
MANISH KUMAR
LAHORE: On Tuesday, India who finished fourth in the Champions Trophy in the previous two editions of the tournament, take on Germany after suffering two losses in as many matches.
Strangely the team which looked nervous in the first two games decided to skip practice on Monday, an off day while their Tuesday's opponents decided to slog it out for two hours of practice.
Indian hockey's comeback among the elite six of world hockey took place two years ago when they beat Pakistan in a league match of the 2002 Champions Trophy at Cologne to finish fourth. India had qualified at that time for the Champions Trophy after a gap of six years and there was stable improvement till 2003. But Mission Recovery capsized suddenly in 2004 after the Indian Hockey Federation resorted to sacking players. If Arnold H. Glasgow said, "Make your life a mission, not an intermission" then the IHF should start realising that their short-term policy is responsible for the team's poor show.
After two days are over in this tournament, India are struggling at the bottom with New Zealand. Germany, who have brought only two of their main players from the Olympics, occupy the joint-last place with India and New Zealand, but they have come with a different purpose: to try out youngsters and rebuild the team. But that does not apply in India's case, who are yet to win a match here.
In their case, the reasons to wait for the result of every match are different - seemingly, it will decide whether the chief coach will stay on with the team or get the sack. Moreover, India's chief coach from Germany, Gerhard Rach can't blame anyone else for his sorry state because he had no objection earlier when he agreed to take up the job without a contract and regular salary in lieu of his service. It's rather weird that despite training for several months since September and promising so much after the India-Pakistan series, Rach is finding excuses for the team's shoddy performance.
He, however, has played an active role in the deterioration of things in the Indian team.
Both Rach and the IHF were bent on sacking the experienced strikeforce from the team after the Olympics on the ground that "their starry attitude and big reputation didn't match their performance on the field". And that was done even after being aware that the replacements would not be good enough. Rach did so saying Indian hockey needed to look ahead with youngsters.
Most youngsters included in the team have not even excelled at the domestic level. Midfielders Vikram Pillay, V.S Vinay and defender William Xalxo were pushed upfront by the think-tank against the Dutch probably because they realised Tushar Khandekar, Hari Prasad, Adam Sinclair, besides the out of form experienced duo of Arjun Halappa and Sandeep Michael simply failed to turn on the heat. It will be difficult for the IHF to justify the inclusion of these players, who have failed to make a mark here despite many opportunities.
In the defence, Harpal Singh struggled with his match temperament and the team paid heavily. This starts affecting those who have been consistent and takes a toll on their form too.
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