It's time for us to get over the euphoria of the Commonwealth Games and set ourselves up for Asian Games. The Indian athletes would be looking to repeat their dominating performance and set the trend for bigger things to follow, keeping in mind the London Olympics.
Amongst the athletes who would be heading into the Asian Games with confidence will be the Indian Men's Hockey team, who would be keen to carry on their rich vein of form. A lot had been said and written about their shambolic decline in form, but the team did well to get a few eye balls rolling with a decent outing in the CWG, where they finished runners-up. They can take heart from the fact that they lost just to the World Champions. If their performance against Pakistan inspired confidence, their performance against England was a notch ahead. They handled the pressure well and proved that they were no push-overs.
The man who should be credited for all this has to be coach ios5e Brasa. The Spaniard has seldom been given the due he deserves. He was accused of causing divide within the team, but the man was unfazed by all the allegations. It is a fact that in Indian hockey, the spotlight has been more on the coach and the Board rather than the players and that is very strange and is something that doesn't auger well for the sport.
Brasa could have easily resigned on the high of the CWG, but he has decided to stay on and help the team go one better by winning the Asian Games. The determination that he has shown in times of adversity has been extremely commendable. He took the blame for the pathetic performance in the Hockey World Cup earlier in the year and promised to help the team out of the doldrums.
It's not as if the team lacks quality. We have a great drag flicker in the form of Sandeep Singh and the goal keeping abilities of Bharat Chetri can't be questioned. If there is an area in which we've been exposed, it is the defense against top quality opponents and that is something which the team management would be looking to work on.
India's decline in Hockey can be compared to West Indies's decline in cricket.
The hope is that we would definitely be able to bounce back from the bad run and emerge as a stronger outfit. With still over two years to go for the London Olympics, should we channelize the funds and talent in the right direction, India can definitely do well. Nothing less than an Asian Games gold would be the on their mind as they step into Gaunzghou, as that would ensure an automatic qualification for the London Olympics.
Chak De India! Go get it boys!
-Shashank Kishore is a die hard sports fan and an engineer by profession. He works for a leading sports website.
