News for 13 April 2023
All the news for Thursday 13 April 2023
Junior Pan American Championship 2023 - 13 April
St. Michael, Barbados (BAR)
All times GMT - 4
Men
12 Apr 2023 09:00 USA v CAN (Pool B) 0 - 4
12 Apr 2023 15:30 BRA v CHI (Pool A) 0 - 2
13 Apr 2023 13:30 CAN v GUY (Pool B)
13 Apr 2023 15:30 BAR v USA (Pool B)
14 Apr 2023 is a rest day
Pool Standings
Women
12 Apr 2023 11:00 USA v ARG (Pool A) 0 - 2
12 Apr 2023 13:30 BAR v GUY (Pool B) 0 - 3
13 Apr 2023 10:00 CAN v CHI (Pool B)
14 Apr 2023 10:00 URU v USA (Pool A)
14 Apr 2023 12:00 CHI v GUY (Pool B)
14 Apr 2023 15:30 BAR v CAN (Pool B)
Pool Standings
FIH Match Centre
Canada Defeats U-21 USMNT in Second Pool Game of JPAC
IMAGES TAKEN BY WORLD SPORT PICS
SAINT MICHAEL, Barbados – The U.S. U-21 Men’s National Team took on Canada in their second match of the 2023 Junior Pan American Championships at the Wildey Hockey Centre located in the Sir Garfield Sobers Sport Complex in Saint Michael, Barbados. Despite a promising start, USA struggled to keep a coherent defense, while Canada retained their composure throughout the match and scored a goal each quarter for a 4-0 win.
U-21 USWNT Start JPAC Campaign with Narrow Loss to Argentina
IMAGES TAKEN BY WORLD SPORT PICS
SAINT MICHAEL, Barbados – The U.S. U-21 Women’s National Team began their 2023 Junior Pan American Championships campaign with a match against Argentina at the Wildey Hockey Centre located in the Sir Garfield Sobers Sport Complex in Saint Michael, Barbados. The Junior Eagles showed strong defense and resilience against a powerful Argentina team, but could not prevail in the 2-0 loss.
Question and Answer with the Goddard-Despots
Nora, Arden and Stella Goddard-Despot all representing Canada this Spring
Even in the tight-knit community of Canadian field hockey, it’s not everyday you get siblings that reach the international stage. In the case of Nora, Stella and Arden Goddard-Despot, all three of the sisters are in the National pipeline and all three are representing their country this spring. Nora, the eldest, took part in last week’s senior national carding camp, Arden, the middle is in Barbados playing at the 2023 Junior Pan American Championships and the youngest, Stella, is off to France with the U18 National Team. We caught up with the sisters and picked their brains about pre-game rituals, playing on Team Canada and what it’s like to play hockey in a family of high achievers.
"Focus is on making it to the squad for the Hangzhou Asian Games," says Simranjeet Singh on returning to Indian Men's Hockey Core Group
The midfielder has struggled with injuries post-Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 and also missed the FIH Odisha Hockey Men's World Cup 2023 Bhubaneswar-Rourkela
Bengaluru: Indian Men’s Hockey Team attacking midfielder Simranjeet Singh in August 2021 proved his mettle at the grandest stage when he scored a brace to help his team post a 5-4 victory over Germany in the Tokyo Olympics Bronze medal match, paving way for India’s return to the podium in the Olympic Games in men's hockey after 41 years.
Lauren Roberts: Wales hockey player thankful for Jersey roots
Lauren Roberts was part of the Wales squad that lost to Scotland in two games over the Easter weekend
"I still pinch myself sometimes," Wales goalkeeper Lauren Roberts says when she talks about her international call-up.
International hockey set to return to Chennai after 16 years
Krishna Kanta Chakraborty
HENNAI: International hockey will return to the city after a gap of 16 years with the Men’s Asian Championship to be held here at the SDAT-Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium in the last week of August this year.
Hampstead & Westminster HC clinch Bronze at Women's EuroHockey Club Trophy 2023
Hampstead & Westminster HC had a memorable Easter weekend in Wettingen, Switzerland as they clinched the Bronze medal at the Women's EuroHockey Club Trophy. They defeated Ukraine's MSC Sumchanka 1-0 in the 3rd/4th Place playoff match.
Penalty corner defence: A dangerous trade to ply
Regardless of the many protective gear on offer, one needs to brave and technically perfect to defend a penalty corner.
Y.B. Sarangi
England players getting ready for a penalty corner during their quarterfinal match against Germany in the Junior World Cup hockey tournament at Major Dhyan Chand Stadium in Lucknow. | Photo Credit: Rajeev Bhatt
The incident of Dabang Mumbai player Robbert Kempermann getting hit off a deflection while saving a penalty corner against Ranchi Rays in a Hockey India League match the other night has again highlighted the dangers associated with the job.
Simon's sermon
"I think in India, it’s extremely important that someone identifies and explains to a lot of these young guys that although hockey is important you need something else because hockey doesn’t last forever. It is a great system here and the Indian players can get jobs in the Police, or Railways or Air Force, but that’s not for everyone," says the Australian hockey star, Simon Orchard.
Nevin Thomas
RAIPUR, INDIA - DECEMBER 06: Simon Orchard of Australia controls the ball during the final match between Australia and Belgium on day ten of The Hero Hockey League World Final at the Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel International Hockey Stadium on December 06, 2015 in Raipur, India. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty images) | Photo Credit: Getty Images
Bullish on the turf, near-eccentric with his podcasts and eloquent in his columns, Australian hockey star Simon Orchard isn’t exactly the fast car-chasing, hairstyle-changing, stereotypical modern day athlete. Not that he really cares for conformity. “What is normal?” Orchard asked recently in a >hard-hitting article he wrote for an Australian publication The Roar, while highlighting the need to embrace diversity in a sporting fraternity marred by homophobia.
NA body to assess PHF’s performance
The officials of the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) are also expected to brief the House
ISLAMABAD: The performance of the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) in special context with international events would be gauged today (Wednesday) as the National Assembly Standing Committee on Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC) meets here at the Parliament House.
Gojra Hockey owes a lot to late Aslam Roda
Ijaz Chaudhry
Today, the name of no town in Pakistan is more associated with a sport than that of Gojra with hockey.
Pakistan inherited some big hockey centres in 1947. Some of them owed the hockey culture to the sporting tradition of the British army at the cantonments such as Rawalpindi, Bannu, Peshawar, etc. A few were lucky to have educational institutions where sports flourished, as in Lahore. Karachi benefited from a number of players who had migrated from India.
Gojra, a tiny tehsil of district Toba Tek Singh (current population 650,000), wasn’t so fortunate. It was one M.Yaqoob, the physical training instructor at the Government M.C. High School who sowed the seeds. In 1968, a player from the town Aslam Roda, a full-back, became the first international from Gojra when he took the field in the Pakistan- Japan test series. From the early 1970s, the town`s representation in the national team began to increase. Pakistan's team at the 1973 World Cup included three Gojra players.
Roda`s international career was short-lived but played a pivotal rather revolutionary role in making Gojra the big nursery of the game along with another Pakistan international of the early 1970s Iqbal Bali.
Recently, a highly successful Ustad Aslam Roda Memorial Tournament was held in Gojra to pay tribute to the great man who rendered invaluable services to Gojra hockey, and in turn Pakistan hockey as a grassroots coach.
Aslam Roda ran the Gojra Sports Club and trained the boys at the M.C. High School ground. Gojra Sports gradually became a conveyor belt of quality players.
For last more than 40 years, since the early 1980s, Gojra players have figured in every Pakistan team, national or age group, which has participated in an international event. At the junior World Cup, the country`s last medal, a silver, came in the 1993 edition. Six Gojra lads were part of the team. In 1994, Pakistan lifted the World Cup for the last time. The winning squad had five players from the small town. Most of them had graduated from Roda`s club. The same year, the Pakistan government acknowledging Gojra`s contribution approved a synthetic turf for the town. For the installation of the turf, the construction of the stadium started. It got completed in 2000 and the turf was laid. Roda`s Gojra Sports’ training shifted to the new stadium.
For a long time, women`s hockey in the country was limited to some big cities. Roda expressed his desire to see Gojra girls play the game. People raised doubts about the idea, “it is possible in metropolis but not in a small conservative town”.
Roda proved them wrong. It was in 2005 when women hockey in Gojra took proper root under his supervision. In no time, they were winning national selection. Like their male counterparts, the representation in the Pakistan teams increased; at times the national team has included as many as eight Gojra girls.
Hockey has had far-reaching effects on the town of Gojra; a source of employment. The players get jobs in the departmental teams such as WAPDA, SNGPL, SSGC, various banks, Police, Army, PAF, Navy, Mari Petroleum, etc.
Around 80 male players nurtured by the ‘Ustad’ went on to play for Pakistan’s national and age group teams.
What made him so successful? According to one of his distinguished pupils, Pakistan`s former captain Tahir Zaman, it was Total Commitment and Excellent Coaching methods. Tahir, one of the finest inside rights of his time, in his long international career (1987 – 1998) won golds at the World Cup, Asian Games and Asia Cup, and bronze at the Olympics. Later, he turned to coaching. He is FIH Senior High Performance Coach Level 6 and has coached the national men/women teams of as many as six countries. Tahir tells, ”Ustad Roda`s 18 out of 24 hours were devoted to hockey. After the morning training session, he mostly had his breakfast on the ground. Then would go out in the town to see the parents of the trainees to enquire if they required any help, and about the child`s behavior at home. He regularly called on local people who supported the club. His sincere work and success had gained him a lot of respect in the town. The club`s needs were met through well-off local people who voluntarily made donations and arranged for hockey sticks, balls, etc. After lunch at home, it was back to the ground for the evening session`s preparation. Sometimes, when the club’s team came late to the town after playing outside Gojra, he even slept on the ground.
As a coach, he laid great emphasis on the basic skills: stopping, hitting, passing, receiving, tackling, elimination, etc. He would practically demonstrate by breaking down the skills into parts. I have done several FIH coaching courses but what Ustad taught me still comes in very handy. Sports psychology is a recent development.
Roda was a shrewd analyst of the players’ personalities and treated each of them accordingly. It was labour of love as well as the love of Gojra players. He was a railway employee in its sports department which enabled him to stay in the town.
Some other departments approached him with lucrative offers. That meant moving out of Gojra, and Roda always refused.”
The great mentor, credited with producing around 80 senior and junior male internationals, passed away in 2013. His death was widely condoled. Roda`s former pupil Khawar Javaid, Pakistan’s international of the 1990s, took up the mantle and has been running the affairs of Gojra Sports. To honour the great man, the young ones’ section of the club is now operating as the Ustad Aslam Roda Academy.
To pay tribute to him on his 10th death anniversary, recently, Ustad Aslam Roda Memorial Hockey Tournament was held in Gojra. Played under floodlights during the fasting month of Ramzan, the magnificently staged seven-day event was participated by eight of the country`s top teams.
As one would expect, the Gojra people thronged the stadium in large numbers. For the final between WAPDA and Mari Petroleum Company Limited, the stadium with a seating capacity of 10,000 was overflowing with people including families; no place left even to stand. One doesn`t recall such a big crowd in a domestic match for a long time. The winner and runner-up sides received good prize money. The locals bore all the expenses of the tournament held in the memory of the great son of the soil. It got good coverage. PTV sports beamed live the semifinals and final.
After the huge success of the event, plans are already afoot to make the Ustad Aslam Roda Memorial tournament an annual affair.
There is a long-standing demand to name the Gojra hockey stadium after Aslam Roda. No one deserves this honour more than the man who made the greatest contribution towards making a small town the biggest nursery of Pakistan`s national sport.
Ijaz Chaudhry writes on hockey & other sports. For more about him and his work, visit: www.sportscorrespondent.info
FIH.hockey: one year after, a success story!
A year ago, the International Hockey Federation (FIH) was launching the most thorough and extensive review of its website in order to offer a greatly modernised platform combining more engaging content and a more appealing look and feel. It even went so far as changing its name – moving from FIH.ch to FIH.hockey – to better reflect its global nature.