The 12th World Cup Hockey Tournament was held at the newly renovated Dhyanchand Stadium also known as the National Stadium in New Delhi with great fanfare and glamour. India had last hosted the 5th World Cup in 1982 in Mumbai. Film stars, cricketers and Olympic medallists were roped in to promote the national game of the India. Australia, the eventual winners, had rested many of their stalwarts and promptly lost their opening tie against England. Trained by FIH Master Coach Ric Charlesworth, they played attacking hockey and grew in confidence with each game despite playing before a hostile crowd who were visibly agitated by the recent assaults on Indians in Australia.
Defending champions Germany also fielded a comparatively young side and won hearts with their fitness and technique. A resurgent Holland appeared fielded several stars including Teun de Neur, the FIH Player of the Year on three separate occasions, Guss Vogels, rated as one of the best goalkeepers in the world and ace penalty corner specialist, Teke Taekema. England played inspired hockey and surprised everyone by winning their first four league matches. Spain, the 2008 Olympics Silver medallists, crushed India 5-2. All the top five FIH ranked teams justified their top ranking during the World Cup 2010.
Unfortunately, none of the Asian giants – India, Pakistan or Korea could qualify for the last four. It was a great opportunity for Indian hockey to showcase our belief in the Asian brand of hockey. With the entire world watching, the Indian players counted on the support of the home crowd and ground advantage. When Australia lost 2-3 to England in their opening game, India smelt an opportunity to lead the table if they could defeat their arch rivals Pakistan. Pakistan had a relatively younger and inexperienced team which could not live upto expectations, finishing a dismal last.
India’s played its opening match on 28th Feb 2010 against Pakistan. The Indian team had been mired in several controversies just before the World Cup, put in a stellar performance reminding hockey lovers of the solidarity of the team in the movie ‘Chak de India’. The atmosphere during the match too, resembled that of the 1982 Asian Games final between India and Pakistan with deserted roads, enthusiastic crowds and millions glued to their television sets. A hundred rupees ticket was reportedly sold for a premium of Rs 1000 and the TRP index was a staggering 8.9. India played surprisingly well and completely dominated the match winning comfortably with a margin of 4-1. This set the stage on fire and gladdened the hearts of hockey lovers. It was the best gift our hockey team could give our countrymen on the auspicious occasion of Holi festival.
This emphatic win generated the type of euphoria which reminded one of Indo-Pak matches of the past. All news channels flashed the win as ‘Breaking News’. Hockey fever was in full swing. But for many, this was the climax of the tournament since we had defeated arch rivals Pakistan. Former Olympians and International hockey players were seen all over the media with their expert comments. The same media that had boycotted the press conference of the FIH President went all out to give wide coverage to the matches.
Then came the big shocker to the Indian team. Ken Reed, the Tournament Committee Director from Australia inexplicably suspended Shivendra Singh, the main striker of the Indian team for three matches (on appeal this was later reduced to two matches). It was a palpably harsh decision as the alleged offence was clearly unintentional and Shivendra was not shown even a green card by the match referee.
The absence of Shivendra was clearly felt in the next two matches against Australia and Spain. The Indian forward line struggled to penetrate the well oiled and robust Aussie defence. The Aussies showed exactly why they deserved to be world champions. They put up a ruthless display of modern hockey netting 5 goals against India to be firmly on track while the Indian campaign was about to be dealt a further blow. Spain lost to Pakistan which left their game against India as their last opportunity to qualify for the semi-finals. Again the absence of Shivendra was sorely felt. Despite the absence of Santi Freixa, their star striker the Spaniards packed enough punch to run over a weak Indian defence by 5-2. Pol Amat was adjudged Man of the Match. To some extent, the FIH’s harsh decision to suspend Shivendra Singh was responsible in missing a great opportunity to promote the game in this part of the world. Where else in the world would one find such overwhelming response and charged atmosphere for a game of hockey.
The euphoria of victory against Pakistan had died out and questions were being raised on the abilities of this Indian team. A shaky defence, low conversion rate of penalty corners, unimpressive juniors and a low level fitness unworthy of world champions was clearly on display. India’s last chance was to beat England who were most impressive in the group stages. The terrifying combination of Ashley Jackson, James Tindall and Jonty Clark ran riot with the opponents in the previous games and were expected to do the same against a fragile Indian defence. In spite of repeated losses, the Dhyanchand Stadium was filled to capacity once again to witness the crucial encounter between India and England. Sadly, India failed to make any impression. The English team that was clinical inside the ‘D’ and soon India were 3-0 down. Though India managed to pull back two goals, the English defence however held on to their slender lead and qualified for the semi-finals. The capacity crowd was left dejected and let down by the Indian team yet again.
On the other hand, if India were having a bad tournament, Pakistan was having a nightmare. Except for Spain, Pakistan lost all the other matches including the one to lowly South Africa and were left holding the wooden spoon – their worst performance in the World Cup to date. India also goofed up its final league match against South Africa by drawing it thus left to fight for the 7th-8th positions.
A tired and dejected Indian team took the field against Argentina. Lack of co-ordination amongst the forwards and unimaginative midfield play made up a perfect recipe for India’s final loss. India went down yet again 4-2 to a determined Argentinean side spearheaded by Lucas Vila and Man of the Match, Mario Almada. India thus finished a disappointing 8th in the World Cup 2010.
The Finals between Australia and Germany looked more like a match of wits between the two coaches, both the teams played with caution and tight man to man marking game plan. In an extremely close encounter, it was Australia which dominated the first half and scored through Edward Ockenden, who had a fantastic run in the tournament. Germany equalised after the half time through Mortiz Furste. But it was Australia’s day as they scored once again through Luke Doerner in a penalty corner to clinch the World Cup after 24 years thus making Ric Charlesworth the only player to win a gold as a player and coach in the history of Hockey.
This World Cup tournament raised many a questions and provided useful insight into the modern technologies being used by teams to keep abreast of others. Some teams deployed as many as five official videographers, modern gadgets and newer techniques. India, in contrast appears to lag far behind in this respect. The Indian management must realize by now that Indians cannot beat the Europeans with the old Asian style of hockey. Modern hockey requires players with better physique and more speed and stamina rather than good stick-work. There is also an urgent need to manage the hockey affairs competently and go in for modern techniques and game-plan. In short, what is urgently needed is to sort out the matters relating to Hockey India, devise a long term Development Plan under an able management and look out for a modern visionary to revive the dying game of hockey in India.