Hockey India president Dilip Tirkey on resumption of Hockey India League, Vandana Katariya’s 300 appearances and more

“When the FIH approves the window, we will let everyone know,” Tirkey said in Ranchi after the 13th Hockey India. Congress. “We have an agency on board, 8 teams for men and 4 teams for women. The league is important for Indian hockey, especially for youngsters to play with big international stars. And we are really excited about having the women’s HIL. So, the wait is to get a window for the world’s best players to come here. FIH is looking at options, either December 2024 or January 2025.”

Tirkey, who holds the record for the most international appearances ever in Indian hockey (412 caps), was full of praise for Vandana Katariya, the forward who reached the milestone of 300 caps for India this week in Ranchi. Vandana became the first Indian woman to achieve the feat.

“Big congrats to Vandana, playing 300 matches with all the dedication… it’s a huge achievement,” Tirkey said. “To stay fit, and also to keep up the performances, only then it is possible to do this for the country. Hope she plays many more and be an inspiration for the upcoming players on how far being disciplined can take you.”

Looking forward to the Paris Olympics, the former India captain said that the necessary support will be provided to the teams. The men’s team will now turn their attention towards getting ready for the Games after having won gold at the Asian Games and qualified. But the women still have to go through the qualifiers, which recently was moved to Ranchi – where the Asian Champions Trophy is being currently held. Once China – one of the hosts for the Olympic qualifiers – won the quota, Hockey India stepped in to bring the tournament to India.

“The discussions happened in China, immediately after they won the Paris quota. If China hadn’t won, they wouldn’t have let this go. We wanted to host it, because that will help us when we play at home. So we spoke to concerned authorities and got an agreement in place,” the 45-year-old said.

Tirkey also said that the women’s team performances in Ranchi make him optimistic for their Paris qualification chances.

“We will get the coaches to give us their plans and their needs for going forward. For the women’s team, the priority is of course to qualify from the event in Ranchi in January. The way the team is doing now, and the fact that we will be hosting it, I have full belief they can get to Paris. For the men’s team, the performance at Asian Games was superb. To win 5-1 in the final is really good. But now, the important thing is to prepare well for Paris. Fitness is going to be important. and mental strength too, something we have been working on to improve,” he said.

Tirkey said that during the Congress, Hockey India decided to provide financial support to state bodies that send teams to take part at the Nationals. Each permanent state unit that participates in at least 4 of the 6 National Championships will receive a support of Rs 1.5 lakhs. Units that participate in all six National Championships will receive a grant of Rs 9 lakhs.

Hockey India recently confirmed that Peter Haberl will join the women’s team as the mental conditioning coach while the men’s team had roped in the services of Paddy Upton before the Asian Games. Tirkey said there is an acceptance in the modern group of players that such assistance can be helpful.

“We keep hearing how we tend to lose matches at the last minute or we can’t produce back-to-back good matches or we sometimes have a mental block… but having that support now has shown an impact. I spoke to the players after the Asian Games and they said they found it quite useful. Psychologically it is important to be balanced. I believe the players these days are ready to take this help and we are working to get better,” Tirkey said.