“Sport is sometimes hard but honest and only the best 12 teams in the world will participate at the Olympic Games.”

The words of the International Hockey Federation (HIF) President Els van Breda Vriesman added further sting to the Indian hockey team that had lost to Great Britain in the sudden-death qualifying match, and with the loss, the team failed to make it to the Olympics for the first time in 80 years. For a nation that has won the Olympic gold a record 8 times, Indian hockey’s decline was complete after years of staggering on with little direction.

It was an inevitable disaster waiting to happen considering the way hockey was being run by the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF). When the experienced Ric Charlesworth was appointed as technical director of Indian hockey, it was expected that he would turn out to be the catalyst for change. He is just into his fifth month of his tenure, but he has already been sidelined by IHF President K.P.S. Gill to the extent that the revered Aussie has not been paid a salary or reimbursed expenses of nearly $20,000.

The warning signs were all there. In 2005, The FIH termed IHF as the worst run hockey association in the world, and in 2006, India failed to make it to the semi-finals of the Asian Games.  It is even more suprising that in 2001, a talented group players that had actually gone on to win the junior World Cup has been completely wasted and left to rot.

The problems that plague the state of the sport in India include the decline in the talent pool throughout the country, lack of proper management of resources, and autocratic rule by Gill, who continues to head the IHF despite overseeing the worst years of Indian Hockey, ever since he became IHF President in 1994.

While the Indian government remains a mute spectator because it cannot dismiss the IHF on the grounds of autonomy (damn the Olympic charter!), Indian hockey gets further caught up in the quagmire of bureaucratic red tape. That lesser hockeying nations such as China and Great Britain have overtaken us is a damning indictment on the pathetic state of our national sport.

Indian Hockey in Numbers

0 - the number of Olympic medals India has won since winning the Gold in 1980 at Moscow.

3 - the number of years since the last IHF general body meeting was held after vice-President Narendra Batra filed a writ against Gill in 2005 with regard to length of tenure and financial irregularities.

5 - the number of national hockey championships during Gill’s tenure.

6 - the number of the senior-most players sacked, along with the coach after India won its first Asian Games gold medal after 32 years in 1998 in Bangkok.

18 - the number of coaches changed since 1994.

40 - the number of astro turfs in India compared to 5 in South Korea and 3 in China, countries that will be playing in the Beijing Olympics.

This weekend promises to be extremely interesting for Indian sport (well, cricket) . The first final of the trination series down under is played on Sunday and on the same day in Kuala Lumpur , the under 19 side will look to make history when they take on the winners of the semifinal between Pakistan and South Africa in the under 19 world cup final. Obviously, the entire nation is going to be focused on the Sydney Cricket Ground as the Indian team tries to go one up in the best of three final.

But, tomorrow another series is going to commence, an event that should be of equal importance to the sports fraternity in the country. However, unlike the event on the other side of the planet, this is going to get very little coverage unless the team in question fails in its quest. For tomorrow, the Indian men’s hockey team is going to embark on a one week battle to ensure it qualifies for the Beijing Olympics. And if it doesn’t, the complete fall from the top of the hockey world in 1975 to the third tier of international hockey will be complete.

The teams:

Austria, Chile, Great Britain, Mexico and Russia are the teams which will be looking to get that last qualification spot for the Hockey event in Beijing. The fact is that barring Great Britain the other teams are all expected to be easy pickings for the Indian team. But, the big problem is that the final spot is going to be decided by a grand final next Sunday. And Great Britain has been doing extremely well of late, it could just happen that India has a great tournament but is knocked out of the Olympics because of a disastrous seventy minutes in the final. ( India’s draw with Poland in the Sydney 2000 Olympics effectively ruled them out of the semifinals and Poland were a team we were expected to beat).

The positive signs:

One of the most positive aspects has to be how young this team is, which means few of them have known failure on the international stage. Obviously the fantastic Asian Cup victory in Chennai in 2007 has helped boost the confidence of the team (pity the event was completely overshadowed by the 20-20 victory). Players such as Diwakar Ram (India’s great drag flicker hope) and Prabjhot Singh have made rapid strides over the past year. Plus, experienced players like Dilip Tirkey, Bimal Lakra and Ignace Tirkey will add steel to the side. The team has a good coach in Joaquim Carvalho who is committed to playing fast and attacking hockey. Further, having a man such as Ric Charlesworth providing his inputs should help.

The negatives:

None of the other teams in the event has the pedigree or the history of the Indian team and this intensifies the pressure on the Indian team. If they fail, references to the glorious run between 1928 and 1960 when we won the gold medal at every Olympic games will come thick and fast. Difficulties in qualifying for the Olympics is not new for the Indian team but never has it come down to making one final spot. Further, there has already been an instance of not everything in the preparation going the right way- as premier striker Rajpal Singh withdrew from the team claiming poor treatment only to retract the statement 24 hours later.

The next one week will officially kickstart India’s interest in the 2008 Olympics. One just hopes the Indian Hockey team is at the opening ceremony on the 8th of July 2008 in Beijing.

India’s fixtures:

March 1: vs Russia

March 2: vs Austria

March 4: vs Mexico

March 6: vs Britain

March 8: vs Chile.