Independence Special
Rohit Ahlawat
Reporter

Our National Game: From Dawn to Dusk

India in golden Era
Since Independence India has achieved many milestones including recent Indo-US nuclear deal. From a country, which played safe at the time of Cold War and decided to remain non-aligned. One can say that the graph of India’s development has always been climbing but one area where the graph comes thudding down is our own national game, Hockey. The game in which Indian players ruled the field like Tigers are now chasing the ball like children. In this writeup we will look into the changes which have been brought to the game in past 60 years that ultimately lead to the decline of the honour that Indian hockey had during Dhayanchand era.

For long time Hockey remained numero uno sports in India and probably this is the reason behind its ascent to the level of national game. But still one question haunts millions of Indian that should hockey be a national game? Winning eight gold in Olympics is off course a dream for many countries but India has achieved this feat. The great run of Hockey, which started from the beginning of the 20th century began to fall when the game took a new look and synthetic grass was introduced and the game became more fast and accurate. The synthetic turf brought in the new techniques and the ball rolled faster and flatter. Hockey became more fitness oriented than skills. Indian players who were the master of skills gradually and steadily began to lag behind their European counterparts. The European countries mastered the new techniques of Hockey and ousted not only India but also India’s archrival and the team with a same sort of playing style, Pakistan.

Triumphs have become rare
for current team
Ever since changes took place Indian players and the sports Authority (Indian Hockey Federation) did not take enough steps to have proper tuning with the modern advent of hockey. The synthetic turf was first introduced in 1976 Olympics at Montreal and India had failed to get any medal there. There after country managed only one gold medal in 1980 Olympics. It's not only the synthetic turf which has to be blamed for poor performance of India in the game but other changes made to the game like using hard plastic ball and synthetic hockey sticks proved spoiler for Indian performance on many occasions.

According to Arjuna award winner retired Col Haripal Kaushik, the reason behind India’s downfall in the hockey world rankings is the changes that the game has witnessed over the years. “Earlier wooden sticks and Leather balls were used. But now synthetic sticks and hard plastic balls are used which has made the game faster.” Kaushik added that India also lacked in the fitness department. “With the advent of new Astro Turf, synthetic sticks and plastic balls, the game has become much faster. Earlier it was skill that decided the game but now it is fitness and speed that counts. This is where India is lacking. When we used to play, conventional equipment was used in the game and then we dominated the game due to superior skill but now because of lack of proper fitness, India lags behind its Western counterparts.”

Even the cost of the equipments has increased manifold. The stylish and modern equipment is quite expensive and not so readily available. “In the past the game was not so advanced and all the equipments were readily available at a cheap rate. But now the game has become quite advance and the new equipment is costly and not so readily available. The middle class family can hardly afford it,” said Kaushik.

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