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Craig Fulton is attempting to write, rather, re-write the handbook ‘India’s Path to Olympic Hockey Gold.’ Without delving too much into the past, though it sticks to us like glue over the years since the gold at 80’ Moscow or the 1964 Tokyo gold where India played ‘hockey’s dream final’, India vs Pakistan, winning 1-0, Fulton’s job will not be made easier simply for the reason that epochal changes are also happening in other top-ranked teams that constitute World Champions Germany, reigning Olympic champions Belgium, the team in form The Netherlands, and the omnipresent and powerful Australia.
Meanwhile, the ones lurking below the radar but with a bite as potent as a viper’s are Great Britain, Spain and the 2016 Olympic Champions Argentina.
In India’s emotive climate, when it comes to the Olympic Games, the media and the fans use the word ‘podium’ rather loosely. Retaining the medal, or, one step further, minting a gold not acquired in 43 years, requires more than skill – an unwavering resilience and determination that can take you from the trenches to firing on all cylinders.
It happened in Tokyo after being smashed 1-7 by Australia in the Pool stages. India, wounds still raw, powered into the semi-finals.
India’s path in the recently concluded FIH Pro League legs in Bhubaneswar and Rourkela was impressive. Yet, that stage is still some distance away where the aura of invincibility, that swagger which you see in the Aussies, the Germans and the Dutch can be part of our psyche, our mental build-up for Paris.
India has landed in Perth for what will be a 5-Test series that kicks off the International Festival of Hockey. Even though results in the past decades may look terribly skewed in favour of the Kookaburras, it is quite a classic rivalry that starts on 6 April, with the last game on 13 April. Australia is fifth in the FIH rankings, with India a spot above.
For Fulton, it’s also about understanding the players, a process that kicked in when he came in as coach and through the Asian Champions Trophy and the Asian Games has continued in trying to pin-point those players who can stand up in Paris, especially when the chips are down and also cut down the opposition so that they stay down.
Duncan Scott won four medals in the pool in Tokyo – one gold and three silver. During the media interactions in Tokyo with the British press and even later, Scott, who had become the first British athlete to win four Olympic medals at a single Games, seemed dissatisfied, slightly disgruntled.
It was only later that one could understand Scott’s feelings for whom those three silvers were akin to losing three gold. In an interview to The Guardian, he said: “Looking back, after every race I was thinking: ‘I’m falling short of each thing I want to achieve.’” In fact, in the 4x200m freestyle relay where he picked up the gold as part of the team, he seemed disappointed when explaining, “we missed the world record by 0.03 seconds.”
Fulton is not way off the mark when he says, “We are really focusing on ourselves right now. We will get the opportunity in Australia to get tested. We will evaluate ourselves, assess our squad, and that's the priority right now.”
Passion and aggressiveness can spill into uncontrollable chaos. Big teams and medal-winning squads know when to rein it in. They feel the temperature on the pitch; the captain and seniors, including the coach, know when to calm a galloping pulse. At any Olympic Games, the squad selection becomes critical.
FIH Player of the Year, Hardik Singh plays on the word ‘mindset.’ In fact, since he made his debut, it has been his mantra on how to create a ‘team’ out of ‘individuals.’ Like any team game, individual performances do stand out. At times, exemplary individual skill could be the difference. Yet, when you want to hold things together in times of stress, it’s the team, the thread that binds them together that works.
For a team considered defensive in its approach, protect your back first, the Indian midfielder believes the team needs a little bit of work on their attacking.
For the sceptics, the team needs to do a lot more. Any coach would vouch for that. At times after the Asian Games, in the Pro League, there were moments where they did look frozen, caught between the glare of the headlamps. Especially in that game against Australia where they went down 0-2, climbed back to lead 4-2 and then lost 6-4.
Fragile, volatile, attacking regression, all that happens with most teams and if it pleases you, it does happen with the top four. In the match, you need to recognise those moments. The preparation for that starts on April 6th against Australia, then Pro League stints in Europe before Fulton understands the core of the team, plus-minus a couple of players. If the universe, the cosmos has to weave its magic around Harmanpreet Singh’s team, it needs to start in Perth. Hopefully, with a glorious finish in Paris.
Schedule:
Australia vs India (1st Test) – 6 April
Australia vs India (2nd Test) – 7 April
Australia vs India (3rd Test) – 10 April
Australia vs India (4th Test) – 11 April
Australia vs India (5th Test) – 13 April
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