Another year, another dream gone sour

Clearly, the Indians have failed to make much of an impact in the international hockey scene as the game has undergone a sea change in the past few decades. The problems have persisted for much too long and only new methods in tune with changing times can pull India out of the pits.

Despite preparing hard for the Sydney Olympics, the team flopped when it mattered most and finished a poor seventh, shattering hopes of reversing the country’s sliding fortunes in the Olympics.

Heads had to roll and they have kept rolling after almost every hockey disaster, but India’s fortunes have not really changed with the constant choppings and sackings.

The dismal performance in Sydney prompted the Indian Hockey Federation to fire coach Vasudevan Baskaran at the end of the year, re-appointing Cedric D’Souza to take charge of a team which has the talent but lacks consistency.D’Souza, who coached the Indian squads for the Sydney World Cup in 1994 and the Atlanta Olympics in 1996, was entrusted with the job till the next World Cup in Kuala Lumpur in 2002.

He will be assisted by C R Kumar, who had built up the junior string, and Ashish Ballal, while the Barcelona-based Ranjit Singh has been designated as the expert.

The choice of Ballal came as a big surprise as the former goalkeeper had been a vociferous critic of the establishment and had often paid a heavy price for being much too outspoken. It was apparent that both Ballal and the top brass of IHF had decided to bury the hatchet and work together for uplifting the standard of Indian hockey.

Along with Baskaran, IHF sacked two players Olympian skipper Ramandeep Singh and Mohammed Riaz from the 43-member list of probables for the 2002 World Cup. The two were dropped as they were found wanting in their level of performance while stalwart rightwinger Mukesh Kumar announced his retirement immediately after the Sydney games.

The Olympic fiasco again opened up the debate on whether India should rope in the services of a foreign coach to make the team more adept to the European-style of play. Europe and Australia have taken a big lead in competitive hockey and the systems crafted by the thinking coaches of Holland, Germany, Spain and England have smothered the class and calibre of Asian hockey.

The Sydney-bound team left the Indian shores amidst high expectations of returning with a medal and IHF officials seemed confident of a vastly improved performance by the players.

But the Indians had to pay a heavy price for a few costly lapses and ultimately had to be content with the seventh position defeating Argentina 3-1 in the classification match.