Hockey is widely regarded as India’s national sport for the kind of achievements it had brought to the country. Perhaps the lustre has dipped a little now considering that not since the Moscow Olympics in 1980 in particular has India ever won a gold medal in hockey. In 2020 Tokyo Olympics, India was back on the medals podium with a bronze and four years later in Paris, India maintained that level. Perhaps Hockey India believes and rightly so that the best way to honour the past is to remember the veterans and engage them in the sport again so that they could showcase their skills and passion for the sport. What better way to inspire the younger generations even as it provides an opportunity to strengthen the veteran sports’ ecosystem?
Veteran hockey players: (from left) Muneer Sait, V. Baskaran, & Charles Cornelius.
The Hockey India Masters Cup launched this year and held in Chennai at the Mayor Radhakrishnan stadium was just that in a nutshell. An event for the Masters already exists in Europe, according to V. Baskaran, the Captain of the victorious team at the Moscow Olympics. “Aged players from UK, Germany and Netherlands often find time to meet and play to keep in touch with the sport and also to help themselves remain fit. Several of them were in the seventies and even eighties”, he said. There were competitions in different age groups from 45 upwards and generally the interest was high, Baskaran, who frequently visits London said. He certainly considered the Hockey India move a good beginning. It was also his suggestion that for higher age groups, when competitions for them are arranged, they should be played preferably on grass pitches because artificial turf can be a little harsh on aging legs and lead to injuries.
But as another Olympian Muneer Sait, who was the goalkeeper at the Mexico Olympics in 1968, said, it had to be seen how far this initiative would progress. “Hockey is in a poor state in the country and hardly anything in the form of tournaments is held now. The interest is low, many state units hardly function and besides, where are the fans,” asks this veteran who generally never misses action at the Radhakrishnan stadium. Muneer felt while launching a tournament of this nature, effort should also be there to get at least school students to the venue for matches. “Let the interest for hockey begin from there”, was this veteran’s suggestion.
Another Olympian who welcomed the new event was Mohammed Riaz, relatively younger to the other two. Riaz had represented India in the 1996 and 2000 Olympics. He says a tournament of this nature provided an opportunity for players of the past to meet at one place and interact again. Generally, once a player’s career ended, he said, he fades away from the scene though the passion within him for the sport remains strong. Riaz, in his fifties now, himself was keen to pick up his stick and get back into the arena. Aside from indulging in a sport they loved most, the competition also would enable the players to remain fit and keep good health, he said in all eagerness to participate at the earliest.
As for the records, the Chennai event was held in two age categories, for men it was 40 yrs and above and women, 35 yrs and above. In all, hockey units of 20 states took part, 12 of them men and the remaining women. Host Tamil Nadu had a team in the men’s and women’s sections. The teams were placed in four groups (in the men’s section) and two in the women’s section for the initial league phase. The top four teams in each section played the semi-finals and, in the end, Tamil Nadu won the men’s crown and Orissa the women’s. Tamil Nadu defeated Maharashtra 5-0 while Orissa got the better of Punjab 1-0. Chandigarh edged Orissa 2-1 for the third place in the men’s section while Haryana took the third place in the women’s section defeating Tamil Nadu 4-3.
Expectedly the focus at the Radhakrishnan stadium was on the former state and national players and there was a sprinkling of them on view. For Tamil Nadu, the cynosure of all eyes was Adam Sinclair, a player who had represented India in the 2004 Athens Olympics and the 2006 Asian Games in Doha.
The Chennai edition was just the beginning. In the years to come hopefully the interest would only grow even as more players of the past re-enter the arena they have been used to in their active days in hockey.