News for 14 June 2020
All the news for Sunday 14 June 2020
Hockey legend Dhanraj Pillay backs India for podium finish in Tokyo
India haven’t won an Olympic medal since Moscow 1980 but under Aussie Graham Reid, the team has shown great consistency and form versus quality teams.
By Subhayan Dutta
Indian hockey legend and former captain Dhanraj Pillay believes that Indian men’s hockey side is now strong again to win a medal at the upcoming Summer Games in Tokyo after their last Olympic medal had come 40 years ago at the Moscow Games.
Under coach Graham Reid, the men’s side has been impressive both on the home soil and away, evident with their performances in the FIH Pro League.
Having played two matches each against Belgium, Australia, and the Netherlands, Manpreet Singh and co. have won four times and sit fourth on the FIH Pro League men’s table.
Although Dhanraj Pillay believes that the Tokyo Games will be very different, the four-time Olympian nevertheless has high hopes.
“The Olympics will be a different ball game since it is not the Pro League or qualifiers, as every country will come out with their own set of strategies,” Dhanraj Pillay told Times of India.
“But what I feel is that India is ready now for a podium finish at the mega-event.
“The Indian team can really outplay the likes of Belgium, Australia, Netherlands, Germany and Argentina. Basically, the fight is between these six teams for the podium finish,” added Dhanraj Pillay, who has had 339 caps for India.
Playing the ideal way
Graham Reid took over the reins of the national side in April 2019 and the team has since won the FIH Series Finals to qualify for the Olympic Qualifiers, won the Olympic Test event and eventually managed to qualify for the Tokyo Games.
With a blend of youth and experience, Graham Reid has so far won 23 matches, lost five and drawn thrice leaving the hockey wizard impressed.
“I was really hoping that the Indian hockey team would stand on the podium in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics before the lockdown,” Dhanraj Pillay said.
“The Indian team, which has a good mix of seniors and juniors, was in top form in the way they played in the Olympic qualifiers and whatever tournaments they played in 2019 and in the first two months of 2020.
“Basically, after a very long time they played in a way the spectators and country wanted to see them,” the hockey wizard added.
The oldest chink in the armour
One of the biggest concerns for the Indian hockey team, before Graham Reid took over, was conceding last-minute goals that led the side missing out on many titles.
The Indian team had conceded late goals and lost matches against the Netherlands, Germany and Canada at the 2016 Olympics.
These shortcomings afflicted them during their match against arch-rivals Pakistan at the 2018 Commonwealth Games as well as in their semi-final defeat against Malaysia at the 2018 Asian Games.
Acknowledging that it is something that needs addressing, Dhanraj Pillay suggested that the Indian team change their approach.
“No doubt, we are conceding goals towards the fag end of the match but mainly due to the reason that the full team goes all out on the attack,” Dhanraj Pillay pointed out.
“Sometimes it’s better to be defensive rather than aggressive in your approach especially if you are in a winning position.
“They should practice these kinds of situations more as to how to hold the proceedings and pass the time which makes sense towards the closing stages,” the veteran suggested.
The Olympic Channel
Hockey player Walmiki returns to India after 4 months in Netherlands
On Thursday evening, the 28-year-old took off in a direct Amsterdam-Mumbai Air India flight operating under the special Vande Bharat Mission to fly back Indians stuck abroad during this pandemic.
Rutvick Mehta
Devindar Walmiki was yearning to return to India, but had no real plans as such. Stuck in the Netherlands to play their hockey league—which was suspended in March—for premier division club HGC since February, Walmiki did not mind being in a country with more safety and relaxations than India at present.
However, a personal family issue forced him to change his mind and come back home, after all. On Thursday evening, the 28-year-old took off in a direct Amsterdam-Mumbai Air India flight operating under the special Vande Bharat Mission to fly back Indians stuck abroad during this pandemic. Walmiki landed in Mumbai at 5.30am on Friday, and has since checked into The Lalit hotel for a seven-day quarantine stay as mandated by the Maharashtra government.
“There, I got used to living a life without masks. After landing here, I am realising how completely different it is. I have been wearing mask, face shield and what not,” Walmiki, who was part of India’s 2016 Rio Olympics squad, said.
He has had to shell out a lot of money to be able to return home—the flight and hotel stay is no cheap deal—let alone abide by the quarantine rules of the state government. But getting to spend time with family after a long wait, even though not in ideal circumstances, compensates for those challenges.
“Compared to India, things are far better in Holland. I was able to train there and everything was going well. But unfortunately I had to come down due to a problem in the family,” Walmiki said.
So sudden was the decision that Walmiki booked the ticket for his evening flight only at 10am the same day. It helped that he had been in touch with the Indian embassy in The Hague since the lockdown days, and that the Ambassador of India to the Netherlands, Venu Rajamony, would often watch their club’s league games from the stands and knew Walmiki personally.
Midfielder Walmiki, along with India’s 2016 Junior World Cup-winning captain Harjeet Singh, were signed up by HGC for their 2019-20 season last year. Walmiki flew back to join the club in February. The league was suspended and eventually called off in April due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Along with Singh and several other overseas players from Australia, Argentina, Japan and France, he stayed put in a big apartment in Wassenaar, a suburb in The Hague. Apart from physical workout sessions in his apartment, Walmiki resorted to writing daily notes, reading books, cooking a variety of new dishes and conducting online classes for some budding players in Mumbai under Merzban Patel, Walmiki’s childhood coach.
“The period was enriching; just being with myself and learning things which I never thought I would be able to do. I would write down my thoughts every day and read books. I also did online sessions with many of Bawa sir’s students and other budding players, helping them on how to train and workout at home,” Walmiki said.
By April, Walmiki and others were permitted to do outdoor exercises and in May, he was back on the hockey turf training by himself and soon with his teammates. Just when things normalised in his temporary home, Walmiki was forced to return to Mumbai, where no outdoor sporting activity has been allowed yet.
Walmiki has to fly back to the Netherlands next month to join his club in preparations for the next season, set to begin from early September. He hopes international flights resume by then. “Else, I will have to take a special flight again. I have to be back there anyhow,” he said.
Hindustan Times
MHC webinar session gets heated
By Jugjet Singh
(Clockwise) Nasihin Nubli, Roelant Oltmans, Mirnawan Nawawi, and Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) president Datuk Seri Subahan Kamal taking part in the webminar titled ‘The true story about hockey — performance, discipline and integrity are the criteria of selecting players.” - Pic source: MalaysianHockeyConfederation
MALAYSIAN Hockey Confederation (MHC) president Datuk Seri Subahan Kamal was in a fiery mood in yesterday's webinar session.
Subahan was the moderator of the webinar session, titled 'The true story about hockey — performance, discipline and integrity are the criteria of selecting players."
The panel comprised national coach Roelant Oltmans, three-time Olympian Mirnawan Nawawi and former national goalkeeper Nasihin Nubli.
One of the questions, asked by Bratt Dylan Sandah, was: "Why is Faizal Saari not listed as a national player?"
Oltmans replied: "Players must train like they are playing in a match.
"There must be a winning attitude. But some players walk in with a different attitude. Maybe they just want to collect allowances at the end of the month," said Oltmans.
Subahan interjected: "In the past, there were superstars who were dropped with no reason given. (S.) Kuhan was the best penalty corner flicker in Malaysia when he was dropped.
"Many others had faced the same predicament, but they fought back for their positions and that is what is needed in players."
When Subahan took over MHC in 2015, the national players were earning RM1,500 a month while the women were getting between RM300 to RM500 a month.
"And now, the players are being paid RM4,500 a month.
"I know for a fact that Terengganu pay up to RM15,000 a month for the whole year to some players for just two months of hockey in the Malaysia Hockey League (MHL).
A fan also asked why Arul Selvaraj and Paul Revington 'were removed' despite guiding Malaysia to the 2014 World Cup.
"It happened before my tenure, but I will still answer the question. Revington was not removed, but he quit after receiving a threat to be bashed up. When I moved into the MHC office, I saw the police report myself.
"Coach Terry Walsh also left when somebody threatened to punch him. This is not the type of culture we need for hockey to excel," said Subahan.
Meanwhile, the MHC revealed that the winners of this year's MHL will receive their prize money within two weeks.
It was endorsed in yesterday's executive board meeting.
New Straits Times
Why the whistle should be mandatory for all hockey players
World Panel umpire Coen van Bunge
As a coach at school and club level, much of my preparation for a season would be focused on drills, cones, bounce boards, enough practice and match balls and pitch availability, writes leading official Andy Mair.
But here’s a thought: why aren’t whistles added to that list?
Why don’t we give every member of our squad or club their own whistle? Then follow that up with the expectation that they will be called upon to use it in a training session or even a match. That could release the coach to focus on other matters too.
For the youngest, it may not even be that important that they know the rules, that can be picked up as they go along, in the same way that they learn stick or team skills. The more experienced players can begin to work on basics such as better positioning, as they may have a higher understanding of skills such as advantage, and thus improve the quality of a game play session.
This isn’t a new (or even my) invention. There are countries that have been breaking down the barriers between playing and officiating for many years, encouraging every member of the club to umpire within the weekly operations. But I would suggest that there are many others that don’t regard it as being important enough.
How often have you heard from an umpire that they only came to ‘the whistle’ after a serious injury, and then had to stop playing? Why can’t we expand those numbers with people that have always been umpiring as part of their hockey development? Umpires and technical officials are not a separate species, but all too often it appears that they are regarded as being outside of the perceived ‘priority’ of our sport – playing.
Here’s a major challenge: to umpiring associations across the country, stop saying to people that they cannot umpire and play – that they have to decide on one or the other. Rubbish! For the clubs and schools, get everyone blowing a whistle as part of their hockey development. Coaches out there, don’t shy away from that challenge because you don’t know enough about umpiring. Learn.
This may or may not lead you to umpire at an Olympic Games, but it will give you a better and more rounded understanding of our sport. You never know, it may even help reduce the drivel that I regularly hear from all parts of a pitch and its surroundings.
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The Hockey Paper
Government investment ‘great news’ for hockey high performance
Hockey Australia President Melanie Woosnam has welcomed the announcement from the Federal Government of a $50.6 million dollar additional investment into high performance sport over the next two years.
“This is great news for the high performance sector and for hockey,” said Woosnam.
“This announcement provides the much needed funding certainty to Olympic, Paralympic and Commonwealth Games sports who, due to the impact of COVID-19, have been navigating a very uncertain funding situation.
“While we are still yet to understand all of the details, with our national teams consistently being ranked in the top 3 in the world since the Rio Olympics, we are excited about where we are regarding our preparation for the Tokyo Olympic Games and the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.”
“I would particularly like to thank Federal Government and Sports Minister, Richard Colbeck for taking this step that will now allow our sport to confidently resume planning and preparation for the next two years.
“The Board and Management of Hockey Australia also recognise the significant efforts by Sport Australia Chair, Mr John Wylie, Australian Institute of Sport CEO Mr Peter Conde and Sport Australia acting CEO, Mr Rob Dalton in securing this support on behalf of the sector.”
With hockey in the process of resuming at various stages around the country, Woosnam said the announcement added to the anticipation.
“Hockey Australia, like all other sports, have been doing it pretty tough, but are now really excited about the resumption of play for our community,” said Woosnam.
“We have been working really hard to remain connected during COVID-19 through our digital platforms, but there is nothing like being connected in person.
“Like all sectors, we have been impacted at every level and have had to take steps to reduce our workforce and close our high performance centre in Perth.
“The shifting of the Tokyo Olympic Games from 2020 to 2021 has created a great deal of uncertainty and anxiety, but we believe we have navigated our way through this by taking sensible and careful steps.
“Our players have been incredibly resilient during this period and have also been highly engaged and supportive of our efforts to remain connected. I know that they cannot wait to represent Australia in Tokyo next year and Birmingham in 2022.”
Hockey Australia media release
SPORT SA DAILY DIARY 55: Clinton Panther
A wide ranging lock down interview with South African midfielder Clinton Panther
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJNEnGCWpXs&feature=youtu.be