Has hockey become a Chief Ministers’ game?....by Prabhjot Singh

Chandigarh: If the flag of Indian hockey is still fluttering high, it is primarily because of the patronage the sport has gotten from some State Governments in general and a select band of Chief Ministers in particular.

Has it become Chief Ministers’ sport?

No, not really, but for some exemplary lead roles played by a select band of Chief Ministers. And the Chief Minister of Jharkhand, Hemant Soren, is the latest to join this bandwagon.

In October, Ranchi played host to the Asian Women’s Champions Trophy and now it is holding the FIH Olympic Hockey Qualifying Tournament for women. Three members of the Indian team in Ranchi tournament are from Jharkhand.

Odisha stands out in this list of the Chief Ministers’ patronizing the sport of hockey. Besides holding the 2023 World Cup in Rourkela and Bhubaneswar last year, the State will be playing host to the FIH Pro League mini tournaments, both for men and women, holding 60 international games between February 3 and 25.

No other State in India had held so many international games as have been held by Odisha I. last five years.

No one can ever forget the contribution of the former Punjab Chief Minister, Dr Giani Zail Singh, in helping India regain its lost glory by taking upon himself the onerous responsibility of getting the 1975 World Cup champion Indian team trained in Chandigarh.

In 2010, it was Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit who extended all support for holding the 2010 FIH Hockey Men’s World Cup in New Delhi by getting a second synthetic surface at the historic Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium. It is a different story that the 2010 Commonwealth Games organized side by side had put not only the Delhi Chief minister but also the Indian Olympic Association President Suresh Kalmadi and members of the 2010 Commonwealth Games organizing committee.

After a bitter controversy, Indian sports has been trying to be back on its feet with the country’s Sports Minister, Anurag Thakur, talking about India’s bid to host the 2036 summer Olympic Games in Gujrat.

Of late, some States have made remarkable progress in the field of sports. Haryana, for example, has been one of them. The State has replaced Punjab, Kerala and Maharashtra as a new power in Indian sports by producing world class wrestlers, boxers and shooters besides the country’s first ever Olympic Gold medalist in athletics, Neeraj Chopra.

And since then, the Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, has emerged as a new messiah of Indian hockey by helping the country hold back-to-back FIH Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cups.

It is not only the financial support that has helped Odisha to emerge on the world hockey horizon as a new nerve center but also provided the much-needed fillip to the support. Odisha today has the highest density of synthetic surfaces in the country. Besides two artificial; surfaces in Bhubaneswar, one of the two venues of the 15th edition of FIH Odisha Hockey Men’s world Cup, now the State has 30 synthetic surfaces, one in each of 17 blocks of Sundargarh and at least five in Rourkela, the new hockey center of the State.

On January 5 when Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik inaugurated Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium in Rourkela, he also put Odisha on a rare pedestal of having two world class hockey centers with the world’s first ever World Cup Hockey Village, it is this village that is playing host to players and officials taking part in the 15th edition of World Cup hockey.

Those following the development of hockey at the grassroot level claim that Odisha was far ahead of other States by not only patronizing hockey academies but also in building synthetic surfaces. Each hockey center in Odisha is now equipped with modern training facilities.

The government has been spending a lot on promotion of sports in general and hockey in particular. Results have already started coming. Odisha’s representation in Indian hockey has been on the rise. Dilip Tirkey, who now heads Hockey India, is the highest represented Indian hockey player with 412 caps to his credit. Ignace Tirkey , Lazarus Barla and Amit Rohidas are some other prominent hockey players from Odisha who have donned national colours with distinction. Recently, Amit Rohidas got a chance to lead India in a few internationals. Odisha has also shown progress in women’s hockey.

After Dr Giani Zail Singh, Mrs Sheila Dixit, Naveen Patnaik have done their part for promotion of hockey, now Hemant Soren has joined the bandwagon. Many think that hockey is the quickest way to win over the voters as the States like Odisha, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh have held international tournaments to gain popularity. 

Jharkhand has produced more than 50 internationals, including Olympians Jaipal Singh and Michael Kindo. Jaipal Singh was the first Adivasi to represent the country in Olympic Games and also the first Olympian to sit in Parliament. Compared to 30-odd synthetic surfaces in Odisha, Jharkhand has only six of which three are in Ranchi alone and one in the hockey belt of Simdega, says Mr Manoj Kumar Parsad alias Konbegi.

He says that Naval Topno became the first Adivasi to play for India in 1967, a large number of Adivasis, both men and women, have represented India in Olympics and other international tournaments. Besides Jaipal Singh and Michael Kindo, other outstanding players have been S. Dung Dung, J. Kerketta, Bimal Lakra, Savitri Purti (first women international from Jharkhand), Salima Tete, A. Lakra, Pushpa Topno and Arsita Lakra are other women players who represented India.

He says that by holding the FIH tournaments in Ranchi, the Chief Minister was bringing hockey to the urban areas as it had generally remained a game of Adivasis and rural Jharkhand.

What about other Chief Ministers and State Governments? What is Hockey India doing to promote the sport at the grassroot level? Has it invested in providing synthetic surfaces or running its own academy or a training center?

January 17, 2024