BHUBANESWAR: India’s title hopes at the Hockey World Cup ended in an anti-climax. For a second consecutive World Cup at home, the team failed to live up to its expectations and will now finish outside of the top eight.
The fiasco has been hotly debated ever since India’s defeat in the crossovers against New Zealand and the resultant failure to make it to the quarterfinals. The position of chief coach Graham Reid, India’s failure to fix penalty corner woes in the pool stage and lack of mental toughness in crunch situations are the issues that will be central to the postmortem of performance.
Hockey India (HI) boss Dilip Tirkey, the first ever player-president of the federation, has a job at his hands to find out what happened to the team that had brought back Olympic glory by returning to the Games podium with a bronze medal in Tokyo in 2021.
Dilip Tirkey (Image credit: Hockey India)
The HI chief took time out from his busy schedule during the World Cup to have a chat with Timesofindia.com on that and his stint so far.
Excerpts:
Q. How has your experience as Hockey India president been so far?
It’s an honour to be the Hockey India president. I think the (erstwhile) IHF was formed in 1925. It’s the first time that a former player has been elected president of the federation. At the same time, it is challenging and tough. Many people have expectations (from me). So there is a lot of responsibility and I am preparing accordingly.
Q. You have been in different administrative roles previously with the Odisha government. How different is this?
I think I was born for hockey because when I started playing, I didn’t know it could be a way of life and a path that leads to the Olympics, World Cups. After retiring, I didn’t know I could become an administrator as well. So whether it’s to play or to govern, I am made for hockey. That’s what I believe. After coming into administration, I have realized that as a players we were only bothered about giving performance, winning, losing. But now, as a president, I have learned that you are responsible for the development of the sport right from the district level, at sub-junior, junior and senior levels, both men and women, the national championships, how to develop coaches and umpires, from where to get the sponsors, how to bring back Hockey India League (HIL). So as a president I am responsible for all that.
Q. A World Cup in India with a former player as Hockey Indian president. Any memorable experience of meeting some old friends during the tournament?
When I met Max Caldas, chief coach of the Spain team, it reminded us of a past moment that we shared with each other. We talked about the time when I went to play for the club Klein Zwitserland in the Dutch league. Caldas also used to play for the same club and I lived in the same apartment that he used to live in. By then, he had quit playing. I found his old stick in the apartment and called Maxi if I could play with that stick. He said ‘why not’. The other day he said that he was very honoured that I played with his stick (smiles).
In one of the seasons of the PHL (Premier Hockey League), I think 2006-07, I used the same hockey stick. I was hitting very well with it, scored many goals and became the tournament’s top scorer that year. So we were having fun talking about that.
Dilip Tirkey (Image credit: Hockey India)
Q. You mentioned HIL, and we know how big a role it has played as a feeder of quality players who went on to win the 2016 Junior World Cup and the bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics. But the HIL hasn’t happened since 2017. What are the efforts Hockey India is making to revive the league?
I also believe HIL has been a big platform for our young Indian players to gain experience, get exposure. We could see how the youth players gained confidence. I agree with that and we are looking at how the league can come back and our young players get more chances. Talks are on.
Q. Is Hockey Indian discussing possibilities with the same old HIL team owners or are there new investors willing to come forward?
Call it investors or agencies, we are trying to find (interested parties) who can be associated with the sport on a long-term basis and also contribute to the sport’s development. We are getting positive responses as well. Things will be clearer in a month or two when I will be able to tell you more details.
Q. The new FIH president Tayyab Ikram said a window for HIL with the availability of all international stars without disturbing the Pro League fixtures is being looked at…
Yes, we have had a word with him. We have requested that (window for HIL). Hockey India League is very important, not just for Indian hockey but also for world hockey. He understands this and has given a positive response towards finding a window for HIL.
Q. Talking about that, state-level hockey in India is slowly vanishing. Many school- and club-level tournaments have vanished off the calendar, especially if we look at Delhi. How will you fix that problem?
You are right. We have the national championship at sub-junior, junior and senior levels. But whatever domestic championships we have, our top players are not available to play because of a packed international calendar. And until those stars are there in those events (the domestic tournaments will not become popular again). So I understand. We have to keep that in mind, somewhere domestic hockey is getting overlooked.
We have requested all the state bodies to work towards that with the state government and corporates. When we talk about domestic hockey, the state units should be self-sufficient, only then we will be able to develop. Wherever in India there is hockey (culture), the state body must ensure that local tournaments happen continuously. If it has happened in Odisha, it’s only because of the state government.
Dilip Tirkey (Image credit: Hockey India)
Q. You talk about unavailability of stars in tournaments like the national championship. As Hockey Indian president, are you looking at giving more regular breaks to players so that it also helps them to be in a better space mentally in order to perform consistently?
We have noticed that players have been spending a lot of time in national camps. We will work something out and talk to players whether camps lasting months is a problem or not.
Q. Continuing with the topic of India’s top players, the team’s performance at this World Cup has unfortunately been nothing short of a disaster. What are your views as a Hockey India president?
First of all, we will have a meeting after the tournament with the coach, the team and other staff. We will talk to the senior players about what was it because of which the performance couldn’t match the expectations. The biggest reason at this point, I had the confidence that if our drag-flicker works, the Indian team will perform well. But in the four matches (until the crossover defeat against New Zealand), our dragflicker Harmanpret (Singh) wasn’t in form. Had he been in form, the results would have been different. The team’s confidence would have been different. That’s the biggest reason according to me. There are other reasons as well, which we will discuss with the team later.
Q. As a former player, what do you think the team lacked?
If we talk about the league (pool) matches, the hunger to win was somewhere lacking. When we know that goal difference is very important in the league stage, we should have gone for it (converted our chances into goals); I couldn’t see that. We played well against England but short corners didn’t work and we missed field goals as well. So the hunger was missing somewhere. I understand that one of our main players (Hardik Singh) got injured, but that doesn’t mean the team gets bogged down. Then in the pre-quarterfinal (crossover) as well we were leading 3-1…I agree that tiebreakers (shootouts) can go either way, but twice we got the chance where we could have won by scoring. All in all, so many chances we missed. So that’s what I mean by the hunger missing.
Dilip Tirkey (Image credit: Hockey India)
Q. Were you surprised to see four youngsters — Rajkumar Pal, Abhishek, Sukhjeet Singh, Shamsher Singh — among the five men picked for the penalty shootout against New Zealand?
Both the goalkeepers (PR Sreejesh and Krishan Pathak) did well. Excellent! It (shootout line-up) was not surprising for me because definitely we felt that our young players are there because they are good.
Q. Are you also somewhere worried why none from the 2021 Junior World Cup could come into the senior squad for this World Cup. We had seven from the 2016 junior World Cup-winning team in the 2018 World Cup…
There could be many reasons. The Junior World Cup is a feeder tournament for the senior World Cup. It happened after the 2001 Junior World Cup as well when many players went on to play for the senior team. That it couldn’t happen this time (2021) surprises me as well. We have to pay attention to this fact.
Q. Last question. The position of High Performance Director at Hockey India has been vacant for some time now. What’s the latest on that?
After the World Cup, we will discuss it again.
reels
धर्मवीर की स्वराज्यरक्षक? अजित पवारांच्या वक्तव्यावर संभाजीराजेंची रोखठोक भूमिका, म्हणाले…
आई-वडील घरात अन् अंगणात खेळणाऱ्या चिमुकल्यावर काळाची झडप; घटनेनं परिसरात हळहळ
