Indian Hockey

[Gollum]

Why not have a separate thread to track developments in Indian hockey?

 

Lots of big events lined up from December this year. 

[Gollum]

Hockey: Men's Asian Champions Trophy to be held in Dhaka postponed to December

[Gollum]

Indian hockey teams unlikely to compete in Birmingham Commonwealth Games

 

The Indian hockey teams are unlikely to participate in next year's Commonwealth Games in Birmingham to ensure that they hit peak form during the Asian Games, which is a qualifier for the 2024 Paris Olympics, Indian Olympic Association President Narinder Batra said on Friday.

 

Batra said he has conveyed this to Sports Authority of India (SAI) Director General Sandip Pradhan during a formal meeting here on Friday.

 

Batra, who is the chief of the International Hockey Federation (FIH) and was a former Hockey India president, said the Indian hockey teams' priority is to achieve their peak at the Asian Games, which starts just 35 days after the CWG.

 

The Birmingham CWG is scheduled to be held from July 28 to August 8, while the Asian Games will be hosted by Hangzhou, China from September 10 to 15.

 

"Based on my preliminary discussions with Hockey India, it seems doubtful as of now whether Indian men and women hockey teams will participate in Commonwealth Games 2022," Batra, who still holds considerable influence in Hockey India, said in a statement.

 

"Hockey India will not like its hockey athletes to peak 35 days before the Asian Games 2022 and would like the athletes to peak at the right time i.e. during the Asian Games 2022. The Commonwealth Games in 2022 are just 35 days before the Asian Games in China and in hockey, the winners of Asian Games directly qualify for 2024 Paris Olympics. Hence, winning gold medal in the Asian Games is a must for both men & women's hockey teams," he added.

India was represented by a strong 216 member contingent in the 2018 Gold Coast CWG, where the country finished third in the standings with 66 medals, including 26 gold, 20 silver and as many bronze medals.

 

But with shooting and archery dropped from the Birmingham Games and now hockey teams likely to opt-out, the Indian contingent will be far smaller.

 

"The size of Indian contingent to Commonwealth Games 2022 will be much less than which went in 2018 as of now 36 hockey athletes, plus sports not included in 2022, i.e. approximately 18 shooting athletes and approximately 8 athletes from archery i.e. a total of 62 athletes may be less from 2018 Contingent," Batra said.

 

"And the medals tally will also be proportionately less for India in 2022 Commonwealth Games."

 

[Real McCoy]

@Gollum you can hear the crickets (pardon the pun) chirping in other sports section. I'm coming to the conclusion that not many are interested and agree with your suggestion to move it to chit chat. But it will drown in the usual chitchat threads and find itself in page 10 or something. Unless some active posters like you remember to bump it back into play, it will die its natural death.

But I really like it in a way that there is a separate section for other sports where there is less noise. will also ask the mods to move the useless political thread and jokes to merge with chit chat. Nobody even bothers to go there and start political threads in chit chat.

[Soorma Bhopali]

Indian hockey teams unlikely to compete in Birmingham Commonwealth Games
 
The Indian hockey teams are unlikely to participate in next year's Commonwealth Games in Birmingham to ensure that they hit peak form during the Asian Games, which is a qualifier for the 2024 Paris Olympics, Indian Olympic Association President Narinder Batra said on Friday.
 
Batra said he has conveyed this to Sports Authority of India (SAI) Director General Sandip Pradhan during a formal meeting here on Friday.
 
Batra, who is the chief of the International Hockey Federation (FIH) and was a former Hockey India president, said the Indian hockey teams' priority is to achieve their peak at the Asian Games, which starts just 35 days after the CWG.
 
The Birmingham CWG is scheduled to be held from July 28 to August 8, while the Asian Games will be hosted by Hangzhou, China from September 10 to 15.
 
"Based on my preliminary discussions with Hockey India, it seems doubtful as of now whether Indian men and women hockey teams will participate in Commonwealth Games 2022," Batra, who still holds considerable influence in Hockey India, said in a statement.
 
"Hockey India will not like its hockey athletes to peak 35 days before the Asian Games 2022 and would like the athletes to peak at the right time i.e. during the Asian Games 2022. The Commonwealth Games in 2022 are just 35 days before the Asian Games in China and in hockey, the winners of Asian Games directly qualify for 2024 Paris Olympics. Hence, winning gold medal in the Asian Games is a must for both men & women's hockey teams," he added.

India was represented by a strong 216 member contingent in the 2018 Gold Coast CWG, where the country finished third in the standings with 66 medals, including 26 gold, 20 silver and as many bronze medals.
 
But with shooting and archery dropped from the Birmingham Games and now hockey teams likely to opt-out, the Indian contingent will be far smaller.
 
"The size of Indian contingent to Commonwealth Games 2022 will be much less than which went in 2018 as of now 36 hockey athletes, plus sports not included in 2022, i.e. approximately 18 shooting athletes and approximately 8 athletes from archery i.e. a total of 62 athletes may be less from 2018 Contingent," Batra said.
 
"And the medals tally will also be proportionately less for India in 2022 Commonwealth Games."

 

Every time Indian hockey takes a upturn ,they shoot thselves in the foot .Indian hockey needs to have a proper calendar so that the team can be followed .They could have sent a B team to commonwealth games .

How can someone follow and cheer the team when you see it once in 4 years in Olympics or Asiad ?

Sent from my SM-A715F using Tapatalk

[LordPrabhzy]

On 11/28/2021 at 6:59 AM, Soorma Bhopali said:

Every time Indian hockey takes a upturn ,they shoot thselves in the foot .Indian hockey needs to have a proper calendar so that the team can be followed .They could have sent a B team to commonwealth games .

How can someone follow and cheer the team when you see it once in 4 years in Olympics or Asiad ?

Sent from my SM-A715F using Tapatalk
 

 

Exactly... if there is no televised coverage of any hockey match in between Olympics, how are people meant to consistently follow the sport and provide revenue for advertisements which drives media rights amounts.

 

I for one have no idea when does the Indian hockey team plays serious matches outside CWG, Olympics and maybe Asian Games. SO if the team isnt playing CWG and participating in Asian games in Aug, so what has the team been doing till then since the Tokyo Olympics finished? @Gollum?

[Gollum]

1 hour ago, LordPrabhzy said:

Exactly... if there is no televised coverage of any hockey match in between Olympics, how are people meant to consistently follow the sport and provide revenue for advertisements which drives media rights amounts.

 

I for one have no idea when does the Indian hockey team plays serious matches outside CWG, Olympics and maybe Asian Games. SO if the team isnt playing CWG and participating in Asian games in Aug, so what has the team been doing till then since the Tokyo Olympics finished? @Gollum?

Relax, many assignments have been cancelled/postponed because of the pandemic.

 

We play the Asian Champions Trophy next month in Dhaka, schedule is out. Opening fixture against South Korea on Dec 14, we will also play decent sides like Pakistan, Malaysia, Japan. Boys have been in training camp for the last month or so. Few star players were forced to retire keeping in mind squad age for next cycle of WC/Olympics...Birendra Lakra, SV Sunil and our ace drag flicker (and Tokyo hero) Rupinder Pal Singh all retired last month....all seasoned veterans with 200+ international caps but now 30+. Something BCCI can learn, how to phase out seniors and push in young blood every few years. And mind you, these retired hockey players are just 30-31 and in good shape/form still, unlike Pujara, Rahane, Ishant. 

 

Anyway coming back to topic from Feb we will have plenty of matches in the FIH Pro League. We'll play series of 2 games against

Spain (Home)

Germany (H)

Argentina (H)

England (H)

Belgium (Away)

Netherlands (A)

At the end of that you'll have SF/F. Long drawn out process and will continue till June. 

 

We generally have a few overseas tours, like earlier this year we played in Belgium, Argentina, Germany...like proper 3/4 matches ka series...2020 was blank, in 2019 IIRC we toured Australia, Spain, South Korea. Unless travel restrictions becomes an issue we'll have 2-3 such assignments in 2022 as well. 

 

Sultan Azlan Shah Cup (invitational in Malaysia) usually takes place in March, 2020 and 2021 editions were cancelled but who knows what's in store next year? Nothing confirmed yet. 

 

Plenty of action in coming months, also the Asian Games (winning gold will seal our qualification for Paris 2024) and Hockey WC (postponed from 2022 Nov/Dec to 2023 Jan). My estimate is that we'll play 30-40 games before the WC unless this virus thing explodes big time. 

 

On 11/28/2021 at 12:29 PM, Soorma Bhopali said:

Every time Indian hockey takes a upturn ,they shoot thselves in the foot .Indian hockey needs to have a proper calendar so that the team can be followed .They could have sent a B team to commonwealth games .

And if that B team gets steamrolled against Aus, NZ, Eng, Pak, Malaysia etc. public sentiment will turn against our hockey after the highs of Tokyo. You know how fickle Indian fans are, right? Besides there is another reason for not sending the team, to protest against the bias in event selection by CWG hosts. We can't protest in Olympics because aukaat...but we have some clout in CWG. Anyways who cares about CWG? Third class event!!!! At least with Asian Games there is an Olympic spot up for grabs. 

Quote

How can someone follow and cheer the team when you see it once in 4 years in Olympics or Asiad ?

Bhai, we won't have so many players with 200, 300 caps just by playing once or twice in 4 years. 2020 and to an extent 2021 are exceptions, we all know why!!! And many sports have suffered. FGS they had to move the Olympics by one whole year and cancel Wimbledon, first major such crisis since WW-II. 

 

At least on paper our schedule from next month till Feb 2023 is stacked. I for one am looking forward to seeing some new faces (many exciting players from our junior WC winning team of 2016 selected) in the upcoming Asian CT. Win or lose, doesn't matter....we must target the big prizes meaning we must do opposite of what the Indian cricket team set up has been doing for the last 8 years.  

Edited November 29, 2021 by Gollum

[LordPrabhzy]

2 hours ago, Gollum said:

Relax, many assignments have been cancelled/postponed because of the pandemic.

 

We play the Asian Champions Trophy next month in Dhaka, schedule is out. Opening fixture against South Korea on Dec 14, we will also play decent sides like Pakistan, Malaysia, Japan. Boys have been in training camp for the last month or so. Few star players were forced to retire keeping in mind squad age for next cycle of WC/Olympics...Birendra Lakra, SV Sunil and our ace drag flicker (and Tokyo hero) Rupinder Pal Singh all retired last month....all seasoned veterans with 200+ international caps but now 30+. Something BCCI can learn, how to phase out seniors and push in young blood every few years. And mind you, these retired hockey players are just 30-31 and in good shape/form still, unlike Pujara, Rahane, Ishant. 

 

Anyway coming back to topic from Feb we will have plenty of matches in the FIH Pro League. We'll play series of 2 games against

Spain (Home)

Germany (H)

Argentina (H)

England (H)

Belgium (Away)

Netherlands (A)

At the end of that you'll have SF/F. Long drawn out process and will continue till June. 

 

We generally have a few overseas tours, like earlier this year we played in Belgium, Argentina, Germany...like proper 3/4 matches ka series...2020 was blank, in 2019 IIRC we toured Australia, Spain, South Korea. Unless travel restrictions becomes an issue we'll have 2-3 such assignments in 2022 as well. 

 

Sultan Azlan Shah Cup (invitational in Malaysia) usually takes place in March, 2020 and 2021 editions were cancelled but who knows what's in store next year? Nothing confirmed yet. 

 

Plenty of action in coming months, also the Asian Games (winning gold will seal our qualification for Paris 2024) and Hockey WC (postponed from 2022 Nov/Dec to 2023 Jan). My estimate is that we'll play 30-40 games before the WC unless this virus thing explodes big time. 

 

And if that B team gets steamrolled against Aus, NZ, Eng, Pak, Malaysia etc. public sentiment will turn against our hockey after the highs of Tokyo. You know how fickle Indian fans are, right? Besides there is another reason for not sending the team, to protest against the bias in event selection by CWG hosts. We can't protest in Olympics because aukaat...but we have some clout in CWG. Anyways who cares about CWG? Third class event!!!! At least with Asian Games there is an Olympic spot up for grabs. 

Bhai, we won't have so many players with 200, 300 caps just by playing once or twice in 4 years. 2020 and to an extent 2021 are exceptions, we all know why!!! And many sports have suffered. FGS they had to move the Olympics by one whole year and cancel Wimbledon, first major such crisis since WW-II. 

 

At least on paper our schedule from next month till Feb 2023 is stacked. I for one am looking forward to seeing some new faces (many exciting players from our junior WC winning team of 2016 selected) in the upcoming Asian CT. Win or lose, doesn't matter....we must target the big prizes meaning we must do opposite of what the Indian cricket team set up has been doing for the last 8 years.  

Thanks for the detailed response.

 

Any idea where these matches might be streamed or viewed if you dont live in India?

[Gollum]

7 minutes ago, LordPrabhzy said:

Thanks for the detailed response.

 

Any idea where these matches might be streamed or viewed if you dont live in India?

Dunno man. For Indian viewers Hotstar generally covers events like Pro League....I also have Sony LIV just to widen the net. Why not check out when tournament/match preview comes up in some UK based site, since England will be one of the participating teams....also London will play host to several fixtures. 

Asian Champions Trophy last time was streamed on FIH's YouTube channel. Hoping they do that this time as well, starting in 2 weeks time...so keep an eye on that. 

 

 

[LordPrabhzy]

 

2 hours ago, Gollum said:

also London will play host to several fixtures.

 

The FIH Hockey Pro League then returns to London for four thrilling weekends in May and June. A ticket ballot is now open to register your interest - click here for more details.

• 14-15 May 2022: England v New Zealand (M+W)
• 20-21 May 2022: England v Australia (M+W)
• 4-5 June 2022: England v Netherlands (M+W)
• 18-19 June 2022: England v Belgium (M+W)

So India wont come to play Uk to play England but India has a home game against England.

[Number]

In the Semis of Junior Hockey World cup.

I think Hockey Federation is a doing a great job.

[poyzzplaidwell]

Saw the matches. French played out of their skin to beat else India were better.

glad to see these boys have reached SF.

 

greenboros are gonna play match to decide if they will finish 11 or 12.very strange to see that how these janbaaz Daler qaum lacks behind in hockey. What happened to them?

[LordPrabhzy]

On 12/3/2021 at 2:07 AM, poyzzplaidwell said:

Saw the matches. French played out of their skin to beat else India were better.

glad to see these boys have reached SF.

 

greenboros are gonna play match to decide if they will finish 11 or 12.very strange to see that how these janbaaz Daler qaum lacks behind in hockey. What happened to them?

 

no money- that money is used on buying Chinese nukes, sponsoring terror and rewarding people who kill minorities... you cant expect much from a bikhari nation

[poyzzplaidwell]

15 minutes ago, LordPrabhzy said:

 

no money- that money is used on buying Chinese nukes, sponsoring terror and rewarding people who kill minorities... you cant expect much from a bikhari nation

Naw it is the saazish of RAA and Endia... They are sponsors of TLP. 

[bharathh]

New look Indian men's team is playing in the Asian champions trophy.. Should stroll to the trophy esp sinceonly credible challenger Malaysia pulled out

 

Drew the first game vs S Korea 2-2

 

Beat hosts Bangladesh 9-0

 

Play Pakistan next on Friday with Japan to go later

 

Semis and finals will be played by the top 4

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Men's_Asian_Champions_Trophy

 

[f20143g70]

Shocking performance. 

 

[HamHindustani]

Shake Rashit - Izlam ki lee jaa rahi hai. Haar Pe Haar Pe Haar

[bharathh]

Just as a follow up... Shocked by Japan in the semis... Won the bronze medal game vs Pak 4-3

 

Overall disappointment for the squad

 

S Korea won the final in a shootout vs Japan

[Vijy]

glad to see this thread is here, even if hockey results of late are somewhat disappointing. the euphoria of last yr's bronze has not still died out in me at all - the fire burns.

[hansfred]

Not as huge as cricket tho...