The prominence of hockey in India was started
with the Gold Medal performance in 1928 Amsterdam Olympics. The so called “golden
era” of Indian hockey was between 1928-1956 which resulted in all the 6
consecutive Olympic gold medals. India produced a lot of extremely talented
bunch of players during that time. Hockey was chosen the National sport because
of the team’s unparalleled distinction and matchless talent at the time.
During that fruitful phase, India had played 24 Olympic Games in which they
tasted victory in all of them notching up a goal tally of 178 and conceding
only 7 goals. But the supremacy of India doesn’t follow much after that. The
other achievement of the team that are worth mentioning are the gold medal in
the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and the gold medal in the 1980 Moscow Olympics. The black
magic Indian touch and their ball juggling feats was the hallmark of India’s
play.
The main catalyst for the dominance of Indian Hockey at the
earlier stages was the great hockey maestro Dhyan Chand. Dhyan Chand was an
Indian field hockey player, who is widely considered as the greatest field
hockey player of All Time. He was the trump card in India’s Olympic triumphs in 1928, 1932 and 1936.Dhyan Chand was
born in Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh in a Rajput Family.
Since their Olympic gold in 1980 at Moscow, India failed to
win even a single medal in Olympics thus far. After the retirement of the
all-time great Dhanraj Pillai, India was all out of sorts. The current
situation of Indian Hockey is pathetic to say the least. As a part of taking
Indian hockey forward, the” Indian Hockey League” ,a well thought out
tournament, was introduced in 2013. It produced some excellent unknown talent
and provides better opportunities for players from small towns to showcase
their talent. India also experienced with a lot of “Indian” as well as “foreign”
coaches in the past decade or so. But, that too couldn’t make any improvement
in their performance at the big stage.
So, what all can be done to save Indian Hockey from this slump??
- The young players should be provided facilities to practice more on Synthetic turfs rather than natural grass to improve their speed and agility along with their ball juggling and trapping skills.
- More money and better facilities are required.
- Wise selection of Coaches and supporting staffs.
Let me conclude,
As the fire is on fully against Indian Hockey, we all should
realize that “Hockey” is still our National Sport and reviving it to its lost
glory is our responsibility. “It is easy to swim with the tide, but the real
challenge is to swim against it”. So, keeping that in mind, let us spread the
awareness of this beautiful sport and its importance in India, among the
younger generation. “Chak De India!!!”
“Hockey” is still our National Sport and reviving it to its lost glory is our responsibility". That is right, the government have to take necessary measures to bring the hockey to it's glory. Giving young players inspirations, giving them right opportunities and also proper training will certainly help them to improve, hope that indian hockey will regain it's lost crown once again and forever this time.
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