What next for Indian hockey after the historic high of the Tokyo Olympics? Harendra Singh on the potential road ahead | Hockey News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: Planning holds the key when it comes to building on a successful result. Indian hockey’s return to the Olympic podium has come after 41 years. Now it’s important that this climb back up, which took four decades, doesn’t stop here.
The last decade and a bit of those 41 years has been the most crucial. A professional approach by Hockey India led to historic success — be it the bronze-medal effort at the junior women’s World Cup in 2013 or the title victory in the 2016 junior men’s World Cup. More importantly, those milestones were not just left behind but built on.
The senior women went on to qualify for two consecutive Olympics in 2016 and 2020/21 and marked Tokyo with its first ever semifinal appearance at the Games. The men went a step ahead and reclaimed their storied place on the Olympic podium with a bronze medal in Tokyo.
What India does from hereon might determine the success of the ascent leading up to the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Former India coach Harendra Singh, who mentored both the men’s and women’s national teams before taking up his current assignment as coach of USA men, believes the foundation needs to be made stronger and the sport’s visibility must improve to inspire the younger generation.

Harendra Singh – Photo courtesy @USAFieldHockey Twitter account
Excerpts from an interview with TimesofIndia.com…
The Indian hockey teams had their best show at the Olympics since the 1980 men’s gold medal. If you go back to before the Tokyo Games began, will you be satisfied with the result?
Any team or player, when he or she enters an Olympic competition, has just one thing in mind: ‘I want to win a medal’. Our men and women hockey teams went in with the same mindset. They went with high hopes, which was reasonable as well. The way both the teams have played over the last 4-5 years, it was reasonable.
Especially the women, I must say. From No. 9, to break into the top 5 or 6 is very tough, but not impossible. I think it must be for the first time in history that a team lost its first three matches (at the Olympics) and still stayed in the race for a podium finish. It shows the (women’s) team’s determination, hunger and never-say-die attitude. They conceded, came back, equalised, then won. And to beat a top team (Australia) in the quarters, who had demolished everyone in the pool stage, it defines mindset.
In the semis, we lost a very close match (1-2) to Argentina. Then in the bronze-medal match, being down 1-3 against Rio Olympics gold medallists (Great Britain), the way (drag-flicker) Gurjit Kaur came back after the first three defeats, she brought India to a position where we almost won a bronze. It was a statement made by the team. Many people had raised questions about Gurjit (after poor form in pool games). I had said then that this girl is a tournament winner.
How much does the men’s bronze medal mean to you on a personal level? We saw you get emotional while on live broadcast after the win…
Hockey is connected to Indian hearts. Emotionally, it was for me personally a moment of satisfaction, which I will cherish for a lifetime. Since 1998 (when he started coaching), whenever I would step onto the field, I would always tell the players that my dream is to see an Olympic medal hanging from your neck, irrespective of the colour. The bitter memories of the 2000 Sydney Olympics (India conceded in the last two minutes against Poland to miss out on the semis), the recordings of which I still have with me, were erased with this medal. Some one like Dhanraj Pillay is still especially hurt by the thoughts of that day. These boys (current men’s team) have ended that pain.
So many stories of sacrifices surface after such a success…
The story of each and every individual in this team, be it the men or women, is so inspiring. You talk about Neha (Goyal), who had an abusive father and picked up the hockey stick to escape that horror. Talk about Nisha (Warsi), Navjot (Kaur), Navneet (Kaur), Savita Punia. In 2017, when I talked to the girls about their past, I was shocked to know that Savita didn’t have a job.
I could relate to all this because I came from a background where my whole family used to live in a 7×8 room. When the power would go off at 8 pm every day, we would go to the Talkatora Indoor Stadium to study. When I listened to the stories of these players, I thought my hardship is nothing compared to theirs. After this medal, even if I die the next moment now, I would die in peace.
A very common question from the new hockey fans is why most players come from the villages. What would be your answer that?
Not just hockey, but any sport that requires physical and mental toughness for skill (prospers in the villages)…Generally only that kid takes up hockey who knows the value of small things in life. This is not just now, but right from 1928. The elite class very rarely played hockey. There were exceptions like the families of Aslam Sher Khan. But most who played, be it the pre- or post-independence era in India, were only those who valued little things. And physically hockey is such a demanding sport that those who are not mentally prepared for the toil, they leave it midway. To dedicate his life to India, every village kid can step up, whether it is in the form of a farmer, in the armed forces or as an Olympian.
Will the Tokyo success inspire youngsters in Tier-1 cities as well?
I think they (kids in larger cities) will get inspired. After this medal, the role of everyone becomes very important. If we want to make hockey a sport for the elite as well, we have to bring the game back at the school level. We are doing it at academies and clubs, that’s fine. But the sport has to find its feet once again at the school level, even if on a small field, five-a-side game.
To bring hockey back at the school level, the role of state associations and governments is going to be very important. For example, local hockey in Delhi has almost died…
My birthplace is Bihar and my workplaces have been Delhi and Mumbai. I cry when I see the state of hockey in Delhi now and from the time in the past. At the iconic Shivaji Stadium ground, to get a glimpse of players like Vineet Kumar, Rajinder Singh, Sukhdev Singh, Ashok Diwan, Ashok Kumar, we would sit outside the stadium for hours. And then hope that we get to play for a few minutes on the pitch.
Today the game’s state is such that there are five astro-turfs in Delhi, but the state doesn’t have even five players in the senior national core groups. It’s a sad state of affairs.
We failed when we let school hockey die and the school teams vanished…Until hockey returns to schools, it will remain limited to a few areas. Academies are running, that’s fine. But what happens is that they would beat any leftover school teams with 15-16 goal margins. Earlier there were teams like Union Academy School, Modern School, Ghumanhera, CRZ Sonepat (all in Delhi). All of them used to participate and there was an even contest. But now, say if there is one academy in the entire state, it would thrash any local team. When that happens, the schools shut down their teams and as a result, school tournaments vanish.
Do you think the parents also need to step up and motivate kids?
When the parents and children both get involved, only then sports come up. Who will bring the kid to the ground? The parents. Why not arrange weekend tournaments at the National Stadium or Shivaji Stadium?
Kids generally get inspired by what they see. Something like cricket is on TV channels almost throughout the year, even recorded matches. That plays a part in creating heroes. But the same doesn’t happen with a sport like hockey. Could that be one of the reasons for the sport lagging behind?
This question is for the entire fraternity, including the players, federations and media. Any sports broadcaster should take this as a responsibility to show the old hockey matches as well, in fact for all Olympic sports. There is this hype of 15 days around the Olympics, but soon we will start watching Premier League and cricket, but there will be no sign of hockey.
I would urge the broadcasters to also show matches of other sports regularly. Cricket and football is on TV the entire year. Kids watch it and pick up from that. Hockey is only live when any big tournament is being played. The regularity of sport’s visibility is not there. If you say hockey is not popular now, then the responsibility to change that lies with all of us.
Coming back to the Tokyo Olympic success, the role of grassroot coaches — who created players like Manpreet Singh and Rani Rampal — has been underplayed. Would you like to urge the authorities to honour them as well?
When I got the Dronacharya Award, I made a statement at that time and would want to say it again: The Dronacharya Award should actually be for the grassroot coaches. Those who work with the national team get fame because the team wins. But who actually was Guru Dronacharya? The Guru who trained the Kauravas and the Pandavas. The likes of Arjuna knew nothing, but Guru Drona trained him. And then under the leadership of Krishna, they (Pandavas) won the battle of Mahabharata. But we remember Krishna more than Guru Dronacharya.
So this award should be for the coaches who identified the talent in a player to become an international star. Their contribution is more important. I can still return my Dronacharya Award if it can be given to one of the grassroot-level coaches. Be it Avtar Singh coach saab (Surjit Hockey Academy), Kalu Charan Chaudhary (Odisha) and others. They are the unsung heroes.
I used to call them and take players from them to train for the (2016) junior World Cup. These coaches find the players, prepare them and then they come to us for fine-tuning. But sadly, no one remembers the person who discovered the gold, only the goldsmith is remembered.