India’s exit from the World Cup: Hockey heartbreak
Indian hockey fans may be immune to heartbreak, but even so, Sunday’s shock defeat to New Zealand in the play-off match for a spot in the quarterfinal of the World Cup will rankle . For, it brings the sport, which had taken giant strides forward, back to square one and makes the team’s return to the Olympic podium feel like a long time ago. The premature exit from the World Cup also gives an impression that the bronze at the Tokyo Games was an aberration .
A serious post-mortem of the shambolic exit must take-place . And one can hope that Hockey India, under the leadership of former India captain Dilip Tirkey, will not resort-to its go-to , kneejerk strategy of making the coach the scapegoat . If India has learnt lessons from the past, then it will do well to address the larger systemic issues, from reviving the sport in its former traditional pockets to having a strong domestic league. The latter , especially, is an absolute must. India is the only major hockey-playing nation not to have a robust domestic structure. It is not a coincidence that Indian hockey’s best years in recent times came during, and immediately after, the Hockey India League, an IPL-style tournament that attracted the world’s best coaches and players.
In that sense, the Olympic medal seems like a missed opportunity. It was an ideal moment for Indian hockey to cash in, quite literally, on the sentimental high and restart the league which was discontinued due to the financial burden on franchise owners. Instead, Hockey India got embroiled in governance issues and court battles, which saw an upheaval within the federation and the elevation of Tirkey as president. Tirkey has made it his priority to focus on structural problems and restart the-HIL . He needs to walk the talk. Else, Indian hockey fans must brace themselves for more heartbreak.