Commonwealth Defence

India produced a major shock when they captured the women’s Commonwealth Games title four years ago in Manchester. That was where the dream ended for India as they failed to qualify for either the World Cup or the Olympic Games following that dramatic victory.

However, having already sealed their place at the Samsung Hockey World Cup in Madrid in September/October this year, they travel to Melbourne to defend their title with renewed confidence.

By Sandeep Nakai, South Asian Sports Editor of The Associated Press.

India go into the Melbourne Commonwealth Games as the reigning champions and ranked fifth among the 10 teams competing in the tournament that produced a string of surprises last time around.

It was a sequence of stunning victories that earned India the gold medal and transformed the women players into stars in 2002.

They were not ranked among the top contenders at the start of the competition, despite the team’s depth in experience and redoubtable defenders who managed to hold their own against anything the opposition could hurl at them.

Fast forward four years and half of the gold medal winners from the team of 2002 have retired, or just play domestic hockey now.

The current team has tried to elevate players from the junior ranks. The expectations from the current squad - a team in transition - are modest, even though the defending champions will surely be a major target of the rivals.

“It’s always tough to go into a tournament with the champions’ tag, but the girls are quite confident,” says Maharaj Kumar Kaushik, the team’s coach and right-wing striker of the 1980 Olympic gold-winning Indian men’s squad.

Beside Australia and South Africa, who will provide India their biggest challenge in making the semi finals from Pool A, New Zealand and England are also ranked above the title holders in the other Pool as teams get ready to leave for Melbourne.

Indian captain Helen Mary says the players won’t be thinking of the rankings when they step on to the pitch.

“The Manchester gold’s a tough act to emulate, but we’re hoping to give a good show,” she said.

“Didn’t we surprise a few hockey watchers in winning the Commonwealth gold last time!”

“A lot of our players retired after the Commonwealth and Asian Games in 2002, so we’ve had to groom youngsters into the senior national squad and they’ve produced some outstanding performances,” says Kaushik.

Despite the Commonwealth Games title victory in mid 2002, the Indian women failed to win a place in the World Cup in Perth later that year.

That caused some dejection among the players, but they utilised the newly-discovered resolve to win the 2004 Asia Cup title - thereby featuring among the earliest qualifiers for the 2006 World Cup.

“The girls always showed a positive outlook and didn’t allow any setback to affect their game. It paved the way for our Commonwealth Games gold medal, and then the Asia Cup victory,” says Vidya Stokes, president of the Indian Women’s Hockey Federation that runs the women’s game under the Indian Hockey Confederation.

“By winning the Asia Cup the girls ensured India didn’t even have to play the qualifiers this time,” says Stokes.

“We’ve focused on a programme that could groom players to fill the vacancies as experienced players move out, and I’m glad it’s producing good results,” says Stokes.

M.P. Ganesh, a former Indian men’s captain, also regularly provides technical input for the team’s training.

“We chose a core group of 38 players two years ago and this has been the focus of our training programme. We sought to provide them the experience of international competitions and now these players are ready for top-notch events,” says Ganesh.

Last year, India’s women gave a good account of their prowess in the Indira Gandhi tournament at New Delhi, advancing to the title contest before Australia won the final through a penalty shoot out.

“We may not have won many titles, but the girls have been playing some quality hockey. It’ll all count in the long run,” says Ganesh.

Kaushik says India’s young team would be an investment for future, showcasing several players who played in the Junior World Cup last year.

Other than goalkeeper-captain Mary, the defenders are mainly youngsters, but the strikers feature four players from the 2002 lineup. Among them is Mamta Kharab, the nippy short and wiry striker whose golden goal in the final against England became one of the most striking images of the 2002 Games.