This is hockey’s real Chak De moment: Mir Ranjan Negi

With around 10 minutes to go and India leading 1-0 against Australia in the women’s hockey quarter-final, chief coach Sjoerd Marijne afforded a quick smile to the on-field camera panning towards him in Tokyo. Miles away in Coorg, Mir Ranjan Negi, too, watched India cling on to the lead with a grin on his face. Moments after the final hooter went off and the scoreline remained static, Marijne began sobbing. Negi, holidaying yet following every second of the action on TV, did the same.

“I was crying after the game. I have never felt so elated in my life,” Negi said.

Negi is the former India goalkeeper whose career was thrown in turmoil after facing the wrath of the public after India’s 1-7 defeat to Pakistan in the 1982 Asian Games final. After years spent in oblivion, Negi returned to hockey in a coaching role with the men’s team, followed by more successful stints with the women. He was the goalkeeping coach of 2002 Commonwealth Games gold-winning side and also the assistant coach of the team that won the 2004 Asia Cup.

Negi’s real-life tale was the reel-life inspiration for a popular film Chak De! India, which was released in 2007 and became synonymous with anything to do with women’s hockey in the country.

“This is the real Chak De! moment,” Negi said of India’s stunning win that earned the women their first-ever Olympic semi-final berth. “Movies can have all their charm but when something like this happens in real life, it’s an entirely different feeling. It’s incomparable. All my happy memories while coaching the women’s team came rushing back after the win.”

Like with the men on Sunday, Negi believes this will be a watershed moment in the history of Indian hockey. Even more so for the women’s game, which tends to be more distant from the limelight.

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“I feel this win will mark a new era in Indian women’s hockey, and hockey in the country overall. The women needed a memorable victory like this. Women’s hockey has often been sidelined, with nothing much to talk about. Today, everybody is talking about it, which was desperately needed. These women are winners after this show, even if they are to lose the other matches,” he said.

Negi was left happily surprised in the manner in which the Indians — who qualified as the fourth team from Pool A only by winning their final two matches after three losses — scripted the fighting victory over the unbeaten Aussies, who had conceded just one goal in their pool matches.

“Nobody expected this team to beat Australia. But they all played like tigresses, pouncing on the ball and showing amazing commitment and character. They played like a team possessed. They didn’t look like the same team that played the group matches. To keep a one-goal lead against Australia is not easy,” Negi said.

That’s where, the former goalkeeper felt, this side has developed immensely. Apart from the work done on the speed and stamina of the women to match the top teams, Negi said the defensive game of the team has shown marked improvement. It was visible in the quarter-finals, where the players looked composed even as the Aussies kept making circle penetrations without success in the dying stages of the game. Australia also earned nine penalty corners (PC) in the entire match, converting none.

“I have never seen any team defending these many PCs against a team like Australia. The work done on the defence has been a major change in this team,” Negi said.