Thursday, September 20, 2012

Indian Hockey - Some Hope?

The recent dismal performance of our national hockey team in the London Olympics has put all the hockey-lovers to great grief.
I do not think any of us need to be reminded of the ignominy again. But a recent news item in the Indian Express (read it here) has breathed fresh life in to my redundant hopes. It seems a hockey IPL, like that in cricket, is in the offing and corporates like Ambanis and stars like Shahrukh are lining up to buy various teams.
This would give the game a much needed visibility which it desperately needs today. Following is my letter published in today's Indian Express Delhi, commenting on this good news:
I hope redemption for this glorious game in our country is around the corner soon.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

You might want to read the following article to see how poor the chances are of India doing well in future. Just look at where the weights of the various teams are mentioned. It seems like India has a children's team playing the adults of the European countries-


Article 1-

Weight, and watch!
Indian hockey team losing kilos, building muscle mass. It’s to improve their fitness, says physio



Avinash Rajput



Posted On Thursday, November 17, 2011 at 02:50:42 AM



The Indian hockey team is losing it. In fact, in the last three months, they have lost it big. No. It’s not the matches or even their mind. Thanks to Australian exercise physiologist David John, the team has lost substantial amount of body weight.

Interestingly, it was David who had earlier stated that Indians were underweight and that it will take a while before they add muscle and a few kilos of muscle mass. “When I said our players were underweight I meant in terms of muscle mass. The average weight of the Australian team is 85kgs, while the New Zealand team is 90 as compared to India’s 67kgs. We have a lot to catch up, but for now what I can do is make them fit just in terms of hockey,” the physio disclosed.

It started when David’s calorie meter showed 160 percent carbohydrate in skipper Bharat Chettri’s body. “The carb level was high in all the players and that set off the fitness alarm. I planned a diet for every player depending on their body type and increased their protein intake reducing the carbs to a minimum.

Chettri lost three kgs in a month and now he is more active and focused. Raghunath was a little overweight but he lost 6kgs in three weeks and now shows better reflexes and has become quicker than before,” David said.

The Australian has been examining every player’s muscle mass after making major changes in their diet. Some blame it on the Chinese food when the team visited China for the Asian Champions Trophy (August 26- September 14) while others believe it was because of the diet change that David introduced.

Indian hockey team has more than seven players who are pure vegetarians and the diet affects their performance. “I have recommended proteins to all the players, especially the vegetarians. The team also has coffee which provides caffeine that boosts energy level. It will take a lot of time to match the European body type. For now we will focus on the Olympic qualifiers and then we will have some more time to prepare if the team qualifies,” he added.

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