Hockey is the National Game of India. Hockey has been played in India for time immemorial. There was a golden period of Indian hockey when hockey stalwarts of India ruled the game. On the international scenario there were no competitors to match the magical hands of Indian hockey players. The might and power of Indian hockey made India synonymous with the game. Unmatched excellence and incomparable talent of Indian players became folklore. The ball-juggling feats of players like Major Dhyanchand made people to think that Indian players used some kind of black magic. The Golden Era of hockey in India was the period from 1928 - 1956 when India won 6 successive gold medals in the Olympic Games
in the 2010 Hockey World Cup, frankly speeking it was sad to see the type of performances. Except the match against Pakistan, the players were seriously missing the preparation which the team need for a big tournament like World Cup.
if you ask a spectator then he will surely say that the performance was not up to the mark. Although we cheered the team many times in the matches, but was really surprised to see that none of the Indian players were there near to the goal post to protect the attacks of the opposition.
Our defense was the worst in the matches, attack was good, but they never dominated the oppositions. Now come back to the Hockey India. In my honest opinion they were the real culprits behind this poorperformance of the team. They were only thinking about how to become the boss of the association.
Controversies too played major role in the poor performance of our national team in the world cup of our national game. Players were looking for money (which was their rights too) but they got it from winning only one match. The elections of the Hockey India too played a big role in the preparation of the players.
Now the real topic here is , weather the time has arrived when we seriously need to think about the national game. Do you think that Hockey is played in schools or collages ? I don’t think so. We don’t have the bench strength, so we need to rely on these tested players only. Go for cricket and you will see that children’s of nursery schools too have the knowledge of cricket. BCCI, the Board of Cricket Control in india is the richest sport organization in India. The team is getting good sponsors too.
Believe me that here are so many players available in the bench that you can create 100 or even thousands cricket team, and all of them will have almost the same strength. Indian Premiere League, one of the most popular sports in India is one of the examples of the bench strength of cricket players and the flow of money in this game.
So considering all these factors, why are we crying for the Indian Hockey Team? There are no sponsors for it, while players are not that much good, and no one is serious about promoting it, so why to cry for it? Just move ahead and make cricket the national game, which has all the glamour and money
