Cradle of success

By Express News Service

“Hockey,” Rani Rampal says, “was almost finished in a certain way. But the Odisha government invested so much money as they wanted to bring back the sport.” The Indian women’s captain is in the middle of explaining the role Odisha played in transforming the country’s fortunes in the sport. That’s when it becomes clear that the upward trajectory of both the men’s and women’s teams largely coincided with the time the state started showing an interest in backing a sport responsible for giving the country each of its first eight Olympic gold.

In a special message, the Odisha CM, Naveen Patnaik, said the sport occupies a special place in the state. “We intend to take forward hockey development in Odisha, through the development of infrastructure and coaching programmes. As we prepare to host the World Cup in 2023, it is our hope and prayer that the team brings home the gold. Nothing will make Odisha and India happier. I believe hockey has a great future in the coming years. India is all set to dominate the game of hockey. Odisha has taken up many sports initiatives for other disciplines as well, like football, athletics, weightlifting etc. We are giving a major boost to infrastructure and grassroots programmes. The youth of our country needs to get into sports. The investment that we are making in sports is the investment we are making for our youth and hence, for the future of our society and country.”  

R Vineel Krishna, commissioner and secretary, sports and youth services, Odisha, elaborated a bit on the state’s association not just with hockey but sports like rugby. In a conversation with TNIE Editorial Director, Prabhu Chawla, and senior journalists, Kaveree Bamzai and Sharda Ugra on E-Expressions,  a virtual thought platform from The New Indian Express, Rampal, men’s team captain, Manpreet Singh and Krishna get intimate about Odisha’s role in the past, present and future of sport there. Excerpts:
Can you talk about the change the sport has seen in the last four-five years, in terms of your personal growth (to Rani)?

Odisha has set a very good example for the rest of the country. What they have done is create a (sporting) culture. Talking to you from a personal experience, when we went to play the (Olympic) qualifiers, we saw mountain climbing and we liked it. In India, that game is not known also. If we talk about hockey, it was almost finished in a certain way, but Odisha invested so much money as they wanted to bring back the sport. Talking about my journey, it has been good and has been tough also. If you look at the current situation, money has come into the sport. Things have changed, jobs are there. There are more facilities.  But when I initially started, I thought such things would never come into women’s hockey. I never thought that people would write about women’s hockey in newspapers, and people would talk about us. I am talking about the time I started and now, most of the players are known individually. The Odisha government investment is very important in sport for that money is needed and Odisha invested for the future, which is very good.

Can you talk about the change and Odisha’s role in it (to Manpreet)?
There has been huge support from the Odisha government. Like earlier, big events would not happen in India much. Odisha government has hosted major events like World Cup and others. When we talk to other players also, they say they want to play in Bhubaneswar as the crowd and the government support here is outstanding. We call this our second home. I call Bhubaneswar my favourite venue. What they are doing is really good with sponsorships and all. When a state is doing so much, other states are also thinking now as to how and what they can also do something like this.

Punjab has produced some big names in hockey. But why did such a change not happen there (to Manpreet)?
The Odisha government has taken a lead so other states like Punjab and others are also trying to develop. It takes time, now they are sanctioning more turfs. It is a good thing if there are more turfs in the country as it will help the players. The Odisha government has already laid so many turfs. Not only hockey, but they are also doing well in other sports too. So other states are looking at all these closely. Punjab is also looking at ways how the sport of hockey can be taken higher.

Can you talk about the experience of playing in Bhubaneswar (to Rani)?
When we played there in the Olympic qualifiers (in November 2019), we were playing for the first time in front of such a packed home crowd. To be honest, it felt so nice. It felt we were playing with 14-15 players. We get so much energy from the crowd. They cheered till the last minute, which is a great quality among the people of Odisha. Hockey resides in their heart.  

What is the kind of involvement that Odisha has, not just in hockey but in sport itself (to Krishna)?
We have been having a long relationship with Hockey India. It dates back to 2013 when Odisha became one of the first states to have a club in the Hockey India League. From then onwards, the relationship with HI has matured. In 2018, we even signed an agreement for sponsoring both national teams for five years (that’s now extended). 

Over the last 4-5 years, we have practically conducted all tournaments in Bhubaneswar. The Kalinga Stadium was upgraded for the World Cup in 2018. The state government support for hockey basically comes from the vision of our CM, Shri Naveen Patnaik. He believes that sport is an important platform to engage the youth. He believes that sport is for youth, youth is the future. We are doing a huge investment in sport… in the background of Covid-19, everybody is very much aware of the importance of health and fitness. Therefore, the vision is also about how do we create a healthy and fit society.

So our partnership isn’t just limited to hockey, it includes sport that we don’t normally talk about, like rugby. It is a sport where our Odisha girls perform quite well at the national level. They have also participated in a few international meets. There are three South African coaches who are training them. They will be going to the Asian Championships in Uzbekistan.