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We are gaining confidence with every session of sports activities, says Indian Women’s Hockey Team Defender Gurjit Kaur

Indian Hockey Admin — Tue, 13 Oct 2020 09:33:08 +0000

The Indian Women’s Hockey Team has been steadily getting back to its full form by carrying out sessions of sports activities since 19 August 2020. India’s drag-flicker Gurjit Kaur, who has played over 80 international matches for the national team, expressed that the players are gaining in confidence with every session.

“It has certainly been great to be back on the pitch, however, we still have to be careful about not pushing too much. All the players are gaining confidence with every session of sports activities which is a great sign for us. It’s been a difficult time for all of us and therefore we are very grateful to Hockey India for providing everything we require during this time. From the top-class safety measures to fantastic facilities, Hockey India and SAI have tremendously helped us.” said Gurjit.

While speaking about the preparations for the Olympics, the Defender said that the Indian team players will have to remember all the right things they did against top teams in the recent past.

“After competing well against top teams last year and winning a big tournament such as the FIH Women’s Series Finals, the players in our team have started believing in themselves much more. It will be very important for us to remember all the right things we did against the top teams and build on our game in the upcoming months. We have to peak at the right time for us to perform well at the Olympics,” said the 25-year-old.

Gurjit, who has been one of the key members of the Indian team in the last few years, said that she has enjoyed the responsibility of being a drag-flicker.

“I have really enjoyed being the drag-flicker in the Indian team. It’s a big responsibility and I have relished it completely. It’s important for us to cash in on penalty corners as much as we can, especially against the top teams. I have always tried to better my technique and hone my skill further. Hopefully, I will be able to contribute to the best of my abilities at the Olympics,” said the drag-flicker.

Credit Reference- Link

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“Hockey India’s support has been critical in the success of the Indian Women’s Hockey“ says Arjuna Awardee Deepika Thakur

Indian Hockey Admin — Tue, 29 Sep 2020 11:30:52 +0000

Former Indian Women’s Hockey star Deepika Thakur who has over 200 International Caps and was recently conferred with the Arjuna Award believes the Indian Women’s Team has a strong chance to finish in the top 4 in the Olympic Games next year. She credits the team’s resurgence to Hockey India who has ensured there are no setbacks in the team’s preparations despite the ongoing battle with the COVID-19 global pandemic.

“I am happy that the team was able to resume activities soon after nationwide lockdowns ended. Even though there may not be any competitions this year due to the prevailing travel restrictions, remaining in the National Camp will allow the players enough time to return to old form and keep up their fitness level,” explained Deepika who was part of the Indian Team at the Rio Olympics in 2016 and was a significant contributor to lifting the Asian Champions Trophy title in 2016.

The National Federation for hockey laying emphasis on the development of women’s hockey and also keeping the pressure upon the team management to show results has helped the team to achieve desirable results. She put things into perspective and explained: “Five years ago if you would ask me whether the women’s team had it in them to break into the top 10 rankings in the world, my answer may not have been a sure yes.

I feel Hockey India providing the best coaching setup and also demanding results from them and the players on similar lines as the men’s team has had a positive effect on the team. The women’s team is determined to show that they too can win tournaments like the men’s team. We have won the Asian Champions Trophy (2016), Asia Cup (2017), entered the Quarter Finals in the World Cup in London, won Silver at the Asian Games 2018. I think these are all great results and collective work by coaching staff and the federation. I feel Hockey India has ensured the women’s team gets fantastic exposure at the international level and planning the ACTC (Annual Calendar for Training and Competition) accordingly has been critical in the team’s resurgence.”

Moving forward, Deepika feels the team should remain motivated and focused on their goal of doing well at the Tokyo Olympic Games. “The current Indian side is very committed and focused. But when you have to be in National Camps without competition it is easy to feel less motivated. Also, without competition, it is difficult to assess improvement. Hence, I would say it is a very crucial time for the team and each player should have her own yardstick and must work on raising the bar,” stated the experienced defender.

Though Deepika feels the team has it in them to bounce back when international competitions resume although they have not been in competition for a significant part of this year. “I certainly believe the team can bounce back. They were in good rhythm after winning back-to-back tournaments last year and they had done well in New Zealand earlier this year. They were high on confidence too. This team is hungry to achieve success at the highest level and hence I am sure once competitions resume, they will bounce back and do everything in their capacity to finish top 4 in Tokyo.”

The post “Hockey India’s support has been critical in the success of the Indian Women’s Hockey“ says Arjuna Awardee Deepika Thakur first appeared on The History Book of Indian Hockey.

Krishan Lal Hockey Player – Biography

Indian Hockey Admin — Fri, 27 Jul 2018 13:31:19 +0000

We all are excited about the Akshay Kumar’s Upcoming movie on Hockey Right? But rare of us know about the Legend who Inspired Akshay kumar’s Role in “Gold”. The Movies revolves around Krishan Lal Hockey Player, the captain of Indian Hockey team in 1948.

Biography: Krishan Lal(2 Feb 1917 to 1980) was an Indian Field Hockey Player who lead the Indian Hockey Team in 1948 and won the first gold at the Olympics. He was the best player and played important role in building up Indian Hockey Team for India. He started playing hockey as a 14-year-old and continued with the game through his life. After the long battle, India got Independence from the British and the 1948 Olympics was being held in London. It was really an unforgettable moment as India took part in Asian Games first time after the independence, But it was not easy, as India cut out Pakistan and a large number of skilled players moved to Pakistan. It was one of the biggest challenges for Indian Hockey Team to get a victory with the group of new players. But the Kishan Lal and the team were motivated to win gold with the Indian flag waving in the background. Indian Team under the guidelines of Krishan Lal played very well and beat all the competitors and victory had brought great honor to the Country. All this was with the contribution of Mr. Krishan Lal. He passed in 1980 at Madras. Being one of the most respected Hockey legends of the country, His death was mourned by many.

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Sultan Azlan Shah Cup – India beat Japan 2-1

Indian Hockey Admin — Thu, 07 Apr 2016 12:24:17 +0000

Asian Games champions India came from a goal down to clinch an unimpressive 2-1 victory over hard-working Japan on the opening day of the 25th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament on Wednesday.
Squandering a series of scoring chances created by defence-splitting crosses that sailed across the goalmouth, India managed to earn full points against the lowly-ranked rivals through goals from young drag-flciker Harmanpreet Singh (24th minute) and captain Sardar Singh (32nd) after Kenji Kitazato (17th) gave Japan the lead.
Earlier, Pakistan banked on two goals from Muhammad Arslan Qadir to open their campaign with a 3-1 victory over Canada in extremely humid conditions at the Sultan Azlan Shah Stadium.
Qadir opened the account with a field goal in the 27th minute and converted a penalty corner a minute later to give Pakistan a two-goal lead. Canada then pulled one back through Richard Hildreth’s flash strike, but Muhammad Arshad capitalised on a 52nd-minute penalty corner to seal Pakistan’s victory.
In their opening match later in the day, India struggled to find a leeway through the hard-working Japanese outfit, nine of whose 18-member squad at this tournament are making their international debut.
After an early foray into the Japanese circle, the Indian strikers were not allowed break into the scoring zone by the rivals, who also managed to assert some pressure on the Indian defenders.
SV Sunil’s deflection on a diagonal cross from Ramandeep Singh went over the cross-bar before Japan stunned the Indian defence in the 17th minute. Kitazato converted Japan’s first penalty corner by placing a fine flick to the left of Indian goalkeeper Harjot Singh.
Taken aback by the reversal, the Indians began exerting some pressure and were rewarded with their first penalty corner that Harmanpreet converted through a drag-flick into the right corner in the 24th minute.
Skipper Sardar then capitalised on a short diagonal pass from Jasjit Singh Kular on the right wing to beat Japanese goalkeeper Takashi Yoshikawa with a reverse shot that went into the far corner of the goal two minute into the second half.
Indian strikers then had more than a couple of chances to deflect crosses into the Japanese goal, but were often caught on the wrong foot.
India will next play world champions Australia on Thursday. Just after the match India’s chief coach Roelant Oltmans said he was always confident of winning the encounter against Japan even after a rusty start.
“We did not have a good start today, but it is the just the beginning of a tournament,” said Oltmans, insisting that the young players he had fielded would gain a lot from playing in this tournament.
“We should have scored more goals and our control was well organised,” he said.
“Not even for a second did I not believe we would win this match. We will improve as the event progresses and the young players settle down.”
Oltmans said the Indian team must improve its ability to retain possession. “We need to improve in possession, but out performance shows that we are taking small steps forward,” he said.
The coach was pleased with the penalty corner conversion by Harmanpreet Singh that equalised for India.
Harmanpreet has emerged from the junior national team and this is his maiden international tournament.
“It was nice to see Harmanpreet score his first goal,” said Oltmans.
“That’s the sort of thing we want out of this tournament.”
Oltmans said tomorrow’s league fixture against World champions Australia will be the challenge in which he wants to test his side.

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India Manage to win Bronze in Junior Asia Cup

Indian Hockey Admin — Sun, 13 May 2012 16:33:04 +0000

A golden Goal by Captain Akashdeep Singh gives India Bronze Medal in Junior Asia Cup 2012 by defeating South Korea 2-1 here in in Malacca on Sunday.
First Goal was scorred by Koreans in 47th minutes and Indian Hockey team managed to reply back just after 7 mins. There after both team was trying hard but at least Indian Team manage skipper managed Akashdeep manage to score in second half of extra time.

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Indian Hockey Performance in 2010

Indian Hockey Admin — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 08:55:37 +0000

Indian Hockey Performance in 2010 can be considered as an Average performance. Both team Men and Women has played 40 and 41 matches respectively, out of which Men’ Team won 20 (half of the matches) where as women team able to won only 14 matches.
Indian Men’ Team’s Best Title win in 2010 was Azlan Shan Cup which was actually a joint win with S. Korea whereas women’ team was not able to win any Title but in Asian Champions Trophy our eves managed to win Bronze. Other Major tournament wins was Commonwealth Games (CWG) 2010 in which India win Bronze and Asian Games in which just one loss from Malaysia force them to manage with Bronze. If we talk about worst tournaments for both teams; obviously the Word Cup 2010 in which Men’ Finished 8th whereas Women’ were on 9th position.
Its also important to note that Indian Team Beat Pakistan in all encounters this year.
Top Scorers from both team are: Sandeep Singh with 35 goals and Rani Rampal: 27 goals

Men’ Team in 2010:

Matches Played: 40 (20 Won, 11 Loss, 9 Drawn).
Goals in 2010: (For: 153, Against: 99)
Best & Worst Matches: Beat Pakistan 7-4 in CWG, lost to Australia 0-8 in CWG
Major Tournaments:
- Asian Games 2010: India Finishes 3rd, win Bronze where as Pakistan Luckily Win Gold and Malaysia Silver.
- Commonwealth Games (CWG): India finishes Second (Silver), where as Australia with Gold and New Zealand win Bronze.
World Cup New Delhi 2010: Australia win World-Cup, Germany and Netherlands finishes 2nd and third respectively. India finishes 8th.

Women’ Team in 2010:

Matches Played: 41 (14 Won, 20 Loss, 7 Drawn).

Goals in 2010: (For: 97, Against: 96)

Best & Worst Matches: (Beat S. Africa 6-0, Lost to Netherlands 1-7 in World Cup)

Major Tournaments:

Asian Games 2010: Indian Eves Finished 4th, China win gold and S. Korea bronze.
Asian Champaign Trophy: Indian Team Win Bronze (3rd), S. Korea and Japan win Gold and Silver respectively.
Commonwealth Games (CWG): Australia, New Zealand, England win gold, Silver, Bronze respectively where as India finishes 5th in this tournament.
Word Cup: Argentina, Netherlands, England win gold, Silver, Bronze respectively where as India Women team were 9th in WC.

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Jose Brasa Still hopeful for a Call Back

Indian Hockey Admin — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 14:12:59 +0000

Jose Brasa (Former Indian Hockey Coach) had his bitter checkout from India about 20 days back, but he has still not given up hope of being called back as Coach from Hockey India.
During an interaction with Press Trust of India from Madrid he has given his statements as below:

I think that the solution for Indian Hockey is not there in India. It will come from outside the country. Indian Hockey certainly needs a foreign coach.
Nobody from Hockey India or SAI has called me after my departure. I am still waiting for their call. If they say no, then I will decide about future I can not live without Hockey and coaching and can coach any international team. But my first choice is India again.
There are reasons to call me back because my performance was much better than any other previous coach for India. I am still the best person for job as he can prepare the team better than any one else for Olympic qualifers tournaments.
I know how to bring the best out of them (Players). Any other foreign coach will run away from the problems but I did manage to get results in those circumstances and will do that in future also.
My payments are also pending, I have sent many mails to SAI, HI and Sports Ministry but did not get any reply. But I am still looking to join back Indian Hockey because I know Indian Players have talent and they are capable of wining gold in Olympics but they need proper attention care and training.
Problem for Indian Hockey is their sytem not the tailent in players.

Check out my previous post on Coach Jose Brasa

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Indian Sardar & Rani in world’s All Star Team

Indian Hockey Admin — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 12:52:18 +0000

After 6 Players got selected in Asian All-Stars hockey team, only 2 Players (1 from Men’ and 1 from women’ Team) are selected in FIH Worlds All-Stars hockey team selected by International Hockey Federation’s (FIH) today.
Our Men’ Team leading Defender Sardar Singh and Indian Women Hockey Player Rani Rampal get in their Places in FIH All Star Team.
This is interesting to know that Sardar Singh was not in the list of Asian All-Stars Men’ Hockey Team, but he is selected in worlds All-Star Team. seems like he is good for World but not for Asia.

Men’ FIH All Star Team:

Jamie Dwyer (AUS)
Ashley Jackson (ENG)
Rehan Butt (PAK)
Barry Middleton (ENG)
David Alegre (ESP)
Des Abbott (AUS)
Eddie Ockenden (AUS)
Guus Vogels (NED)
James Fair (ENG)
Jong Ho Seo (KOR)
Lucas Vila (ARG)
Matthias Witthaus (GER)
Max Müller (GER)
Moritz Fürste (GER)
Nick Wilson (NZL)
Sardar Singh (IND)
Teun de Nooijer (NED)
Tobias Hauke (GER)

Women’ FIH All Stars Team:

Luciana Aymar (ARG)
Soledad Garcia (ARG)
Noel Barrionuevo (ARG)
Carla Rebecchi (ARG)
Casey Eastham (AUS)
Madonna Blyth (AUS)
Fu Baorong (CHN)
Zhao Yudiao (CHN)
Helen Richardson (ENG)
Rani Rampal (IND)
Beth Storry (ENG)
Crista Cullen (ENG)
Natascha Keller (GER)
Maartje Paumen (NED)
Naomi van As (NED)
Marsha Marescia (RSA)
Joyce Sombroek (NED)
Kayla Sharland (NZL)

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Harbinder & Dilip Tirkey new Observers

Indian Hockey Admin — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 11:50:26 +0000

Dilip Tirkey & Harbinder Singh are appointed as new govt. observers.

After S. Pargat Singh appointed as chairman of the development committee in Hockey India, there is another positive move by “Ministry of Sports (Govt. of India)”; who has now appointed Dilip Tirkey and Olympian Harbinder Singh as the new government observers by replacing Ajit Pal Singh and Zafar Iqbal.
This is also interesting to know that Pargat Singh holding an important meeting on 22ed of dec. and is looking for a complete overhaul of entire selection committee.

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6 Indians in Asian All-Stars hockey team

Indian Hockey Admin — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 19:05:52 +0000

Indian Hockey Fans will be happy to read this:

Indian Hockey Players got their recognition back in Common continental Team. Its a good news that 6 Indian players (4 men, 2 Women) are selected in All-Starts Asian Team.


Indian Players that are selected in Asian All-Stars hockey team

Other Countries got major recognitions:

Korea: 8 Players – 4 Men & 4 Women.
India: 6 Players – 4 Men & 2 Women.
Malaysia: 4 Players – 3 Men & 1 Women.
Pakistan: 3 Men Players.
China: 8 Players – 2 Men & 6 Women.
Japan: 5 Players – 2 Men, 3 Women.

Complete Asian All-Stars hockey team:

Men’ Team:

Defenders

Sandeep Singh (India)

Gurbaj Singh (India)

Md. Razie (Malaysia)

Hu Huiren (China)

Midfielders

Arjun Halappa (India)

Rashid Muhammad (Pakistan)

Ozawa Kazuyuki (Japan)

Tsuvouchi Kazuhiro (Japan)

Lee Nam Yong (Korea)

Yeo Woon Kon (Korea)

Forwards

Rajpal Singh (India)

Rehan Butt (Pakistan)

Na Yubo (China)

Seo Jongho (Korea)

Jang Jong Hyun (Korea)

Tenku Abdul Rahid Jalil (Malaysia)

Goalkeepers

Salman Akbar (Pakistan)

Kumar Subramaniam (Malaysia)

Women’ Team:

Defenders

Joydeep Kaur (India)

Ma Yibo (China)

Li Shuang (China)

Mayumi Ono (Japan)

Irina Dobrioglo (Kazakhstan)

Ratnaporn Shangpranam (Thailand)

Forwards

Rani Rampal (India)

Kaori Chiba (Japan)

Park Mi Hyun (Korea)

Fu Baorong (China)

Zhao Yudiao (China)

Midfielders

Kim Darae (Korea)

Park Seonmi (Korea)

Nadia Abdul Rehman (Malaysia)

Yukari Yamamoto (Japan)

Song Quingling (China)

Goalkeepers

Lee Seon OK (Korea)

Zhang Yimeng (China)

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