Although day 5 wasn’t that lucky but hopes are still high for a better ending.

Tokyo Olympics started from July 23 and Hockey matches is being held in Oi Hockey Stadium.

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New Zealand played well in the first quarter of the game but Rupinder equalised for India in the latter half.

Manpreet led team will now face Australia on July 25, who won against host Japan with 5-3 in another mettlesome game.

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The men’s team is under the captainship of Manpreet Singh Sandhu, while Rani will lead the women’s national team. 

Graham Reid, chief coach of India’s men hockey team, shared how excited the team is to perform their best on the podium. “The team is absolutely excited. They have all worked really hard for this moment and it is time to convert the sacrifices made over the last couple of months and years into desirable results in Tokyo,” expressed Reid, as quoted by The New Indian Express. 

“As I have always said, our aim will be to perform best match-by-match. The team is mentally prepared to face the challenges on and off the field in Tokyo,” he added further.

In their first Pool A match team India will face New Zealand on July 24, then take on Australia on July 25. The series will continue with matches against Spain on July 27 and Olympic Champions Argentina on July 29 and host Japan on July 30.

“As we leave Bengaluru, we are filled with gratitude towards the staff at SAI Bengaluru, Sports Authority of India and Hockey India who ensured we got everything needed in the last 15 months while training in a bio-bubble. Hockey India and SAI have been a huge support in our preparations,” Reid said before departing for Delhi from Bengaluru.

On the other hand, women’s chief coach Sjoerd Marijne agreed with Reid as she was quoted saying, “It was quite emotional for us when we had our last training session yesterday (Friday) in SAI, Bengaluru. This group is really special. They are very strong mentally and I believe this will be one of our assets when we take on big teams in Tokyo. We are geared up for the challenge.”

Earlier on a virtual meet, Capt. Manpreet shared with PM Narendra Modi how dedicatedly team India is preparing itself to bring back the glory to the sport. The clip of their conversation was shared on PM’s Twitter handle and later retweeted by TheHockeyIndia. See here:

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Hailing from Sonipat, Haryana, Nisha was born to a tailor father who works in a retail store. He was instrumental in her career in representing team India on the international stage. “He battled every day to make sure the family is having three meals. Such conditions didn’t discourage him and he always motivated me to play Hockey,” stated Nisha.

“Now, through hockey, I am confident I will be able to support my family financially and bring them out of poverty,” affirmed Nisha.

After a delay of one year due to the Covid pandemic, the Olympics is scheduled to take place in Tokyo, Japan, from July 23. A high spirited Nisha is very grateful for the opportunity she had been provided with the Hiroshima event. “Since my debut in Hiroshima, I have been getting the right exposure and opportunity to prove myself and I feel very fortunate that I was picked in the squad for the Tokyo Olympics. Very few people get to live this dream so early in their international career,” said she, as quoted by The Bridge.

The Tokyo Olympics are about to kick off. Team India will face the Netherlands, World No. 1, in their first group match. Nisha, a firm believer, has deep faith in team India. She said the national team is focusing on speed work to ensure gaining peak at the right time. 

“With only weeks left before we leave for Tokyo, we are putting in all the hard work required and all of us in the team are pushing each other to perform better in every session. I am glad to be part of such a system where the entire Coaching staff is also pumped up to see that we peak at the right time. There is a lot of excitement within the team and all of us are looking forward to our first match against the World Champions Netherlands,” she added.

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The current team has only five players from Rio Olympics, with Manpreet Singh Sandhu, P.R. Sreejesh, Harmanpreet Singh, Rupinder Pal Singh and Surender Kumar. P.R. Sreejesh and captain Manpreet Singh will be playing their third Olympics.

The inclusion of Birendra Lakra, who missed Rio Olympics due to knee injury, and exclusion of certain players took everyone by surprise.

Although Hockey India stated that the team was fuelled with a fresh approach-based intense training and preparation at the ongoing preparatory camp, the omission of senior players like Varun Kumar, reflects the fresh legs approach formula, especially in the attacker section.

“It has been an easy process to make the final selection as there is a lot of quality and ambition in this group of players. The performance levels of all the athletes are at an optimum level and more importantly they work well together,” said coach Graham Reid.

India, along with Olympic winner Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, Spain and host Japan, is clustered in Pool A for the event.

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Recalling the beginning of her daughter’s journey, Savitri Devi shared that to save her daughter from the toxic environment of the house, she enrolled her in Haryana Hockey Academy, Sonepat. Now 13 years later, she feels proud of taking the right decision at the right time.

“My husband would get drunk, and become abusive and violent. Whenever he came home, my daughter used to shut her eyes, close both her ears with her fingers and hide behind me. That was no way to live. The hockey ground felt safer,” she added.

Goyal used to work with her mother at a cycle factory to feed the family of five. The journey from earning a meagre Rs. 2000 a month, for straightening the spokes, to the national team, Neha is an inspiration to many aspiring sportswomen.

It was her coach Pritam Siwach, an Arjuna awardee and a member of India’s 2002 CWG gold medal-winning women’s team, who runs a hockey academy in Sonepat, Haryana, who saw the 11-year-old Neha lingering near the ground every day. She perceived the stamina of the little girl and gave her a skipping rope. Ms Goyal impressed her and in return, Siwach promised her two proper meals daily if she would play. 

To conceive her parents for Hockey, Siwach went her home. Neha was embarrassed to invite her as the family was living in a tiny house, after 10 steps you reach the wall, Siwach recalls. 

Neha often remembers the gone days when her jobless father used to come home all drunk and things getting out of control.  

Despite her struggling childhood, her teammates find her one of the happy-go-lucky players in the team. With a big smile on her face, Neha is always optimistic no matter how bad the situation is, they agreed in unison.  

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Olympics 2021 is scheduled to begin from July 23 in Tokyo, Japan.

He expressed his feelings on ‘Hockey te Charcha’, a podcast series initiated by Hockey India at the fore of the Olympics. “I feel the way the team (Indian Men’s Team) is doing right now; they are a strong contender to finish on the podium,” he was quoted as saying during the podcast.

He said team India has learnt a lot from all the events that have taken place so far. The year 2008 was not very successful as we couldn’t qualify for the match but we bagged 12th in London and endorsed 8th position in Rio. The London Olympics (2012) have taught us many things.

The players constituted in the present team know very well how even a minute mistake impacts the overall game. And recent tours to Australia and Europe have reflected the impressive transformation of the National team.

He took further and added, “…players part of the London Olympics like Sreejesh, Manpreet, Sunil, Danish Mujtaba, Raghunath (and others) who also got to play in Rio had told themselves the team won’t make the same mistakes they made in London. Likewise, I am sure players who were part of the Rio Olympics will caution the team of the errors they need to avoid making in Tokyo.”

“After the depression in 2008-09, it has taken us 10-11 years to climb to the level we are at today,” added the sportsman who made his international debut in 2003.

He delivered his service as an assistant coach to team India between 2014 to 2016. 

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Until now he has played 52 matches and claimed 14 goals for team India. Walmiki, who idolises former India captain Dhanraj Pillay, played in the German Hockey league for eight years, anticipates a medal to team India if Tokyo Olympics are held as scheduled.

He was also a prime member of the World Cup in 2014, which took place in the Netherlands.

It was in the latest episode of ‘Sportstiger Talks’, where he not only shared about the gut feeling of team India winning a medal in the upcoming Olympics but hardships he had faced so far to reach the place he is today, his desire to participate in the entertainment industry and much more.

“Team India is preparing really well under the leadership of Shreejesh and Manpreet Singh,” observed Walmiki.

Proceeding with the talk he added, “I still have this gut feeling… In case, Tokyo Olympics takes place, the Indian hockey team will bag a medal this time. I have this strong belief in my heart.”

It is to be recalled that the Indian Hockey team has bagged a maximum of eight golds in the Olympics, the highest so far by any country. The last boast was in Moscow Olympics, 1980, defeating Spain by 4-3 in the final.

“I don’t have any competitors, I keep competing with myself to become a better human and work hard every day. In the end, it worked out well for me and to wear the tricolour badge on our chest is probably the biggest motivation for every sportsman,” he shared while recalling those struggling days when he stayed in a 10*10 room in Mumbai with no electricity or availability of any other resources, it was his passion which kept him going on and on.      

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Kaur, a defender, is all focused to play at her best in the training. After gaining an ample amount of experience in the sport, it was January last year when she was called up for the senior team.

Trained in Shahabad Hockey Academy the 22-year old Manpreet grew up idolising skipper Rani, experienced forwards Navjot Kaur and Navneet Kaur. 

At a media release, she was being quoted as saying, “To be a part of the national team at a dreamy event like Olympics is like a fairytale for me. I have a mixture of feelings. I want to put my foot on the ground and keep working hard.”

“Team selection is not in my hands. But I am enjoying the current phase. The training is bringing out the best in me and I would like to keep improving my performance without bothering about team selection,” she added.

She also expressed how thrilled she is to be around experienced players on and off the field. In her words, one has to adapt to changes swiftly, pointing to the transition from junior to senior camp. She endeavours to learn as much as she can from the seniors.

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The national team, defeated by Belgium in the quarter-finals, ranked 8th in the last Olympics in Rio de Janerio (2016).

“Drew in Canada match costs us in 2016. It had put us into a different qualification team, but this time as I believe we are more prepared. The present national team is going to handle the celebrated Games way lot better than Rio de Janerio,” he was quoted as saying in a Hockey India release. He also has a high opinion for the present vice-captain Harmanpreet Singh, who superseded him as a drag-flicker to the team.

Raghunath is one of the noted players of Indian Men Hockey. He showed his performance as a full stacker but drew appreciation for his abilities as a drag-flicker. Serving as a vice-president of the Karnataka Hockey Association, Raghunath was a part of team India when it won Gold in Asia Cup (2007), gold again in Asian Games (2014), Bronze in Hockey World League (2015), silver in Commonweath Games (2014) and Asia Cup (2013),  and Silver again in Champions Trophy (2016) in London. In Asia Cup (2013), he scored six goals and was awarded the “Best Player of the Tournament.”

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