Bharat Rakshak

India Defeats Spain 2-1 to enter Semi Finals in Junior Hockey World cup.

So Belgium, Germany, Australia and India are in Semi Finals.

Belgium Defeated Argentina in overtime (penalty shots 4-1)
Germany Defeated England (4-2)
Australia defeated Netherlands (2-1)

India vs Australia in Semi Finals
Belgium Vs. Germany in other semi finals!

We were trailing 0-1 until less than 15 minutes before the end. We pumped in two goals to make it. All goals by both teams were penalty corners. We did some nice improvisation on the first one too, skipping the trapper entirely. Good work. Australia will be a big challenge too.

India Defeats Spain 2-1

India Beats Australia in second semi finals in penalty shoot out (4-1)

India vs Belgium for the finals of the Junior World Cup hockey!!

GO INDIA!!! Get GOLD!!

The younger Hockey team is really something!!!

We were trailing 1-0 for 45 minutes and then Gurjant singh took the ball and ran leaving all the aussies behind hitting the goal. Then we got ahead 2-1 when Mandeep plucked the sqooped ball right from mid air in front of Aussies D and scored another field goal. I am very impressed by the strikers!! The front line is very good! defense is where we have issues (including goal keeping).

Goal keeping by Vikas Dahiya was awesome during shoot outs. Shreejas also present and was pumped up!

This is how India should play. Oltmans is too defensive with the senior team. Maybe he is not confident they can run all 60 minutes. Harinder has done an excellent job with the juniors except PC conversion. They were running like Usain Bolt in the blizkrieg against England where they scored four goals within 15 mins. This team is the fastest I have seen in the tournament. Breaks down the European style defense and forces errors. I think we have a good chance of beating Belgium.

Meanwhile Sindhu is in the Super Series Masters semis beating an out-of-form Carolina Marin but is not looking at her top-most form. But she has a decent chance. BTW, the badminton smash travels at more than 300 kmph. That is a bullet train at 10 yards. Cricketers can barely see the ball at 150 kmph from 22 yards.

Even if one discounts Kabbadi, Indian guys / gals are doing quiet well in Cricket, Snooker, Badminton, Chess, Tennis, and hockey on world stage.

Professional leagues are great too, they create employment, raise health awareness, create local identity and more importantly promote the timepass factor. People need to enjoy life, not just work yaa gossip in mohollas.

Most Asian countries including China has never qualified for football World Cup.... Hope India will in the next 5-10 years.

I would say the professional leagues have made the difference. Most of the hockey juniors play in the HIL. Unlike Communist and rich countries we don't have organized sports. It is more of a Congressi style governance - chalta hai type. We need to add the women to the leagues and expand it to other sports like volleball, basket ball, tt, etc. The govt only needs to focus on olympic sports like athletics, swimming, cycling, etc. Maybe have several tournaments with prize money. Money motivates Indians apart from nationalism and if we can run like that in hockey it means the genetics arguement is just a cop out.

BTW, I have been watching the football ISL. I won't be surprised if we qualify in the 2022 world cup from Asia.

Talking of girls playing well, PV Sindhu is in the semifinal of the year end Super Series Masters Finals event, where only the top 8 players qualify. She beat the Spanish world and Olympic champion Carolina Marin in her last group match to make it. She plays Korean Sung Ji-Hyun in the semifinal. She beat Sung on the way to winning the China Open recently.

Congrats to the junior hockey team as well. At least 2 members of the junior team also play on the senior team. I'm glad Oltmans is here. But I don't think it's fair to look at junior play for senior tactics. The reality is that tactics at the senior level are vastly more complex, and at junior level they're just doing finishing school. This article shows how Europeans use soccer and hockey coaches to pass the best techniques between sports. Our 5-3-2 attack of the past would be murdered at the senior level by expert counterpunching teams like Aus, Ger and Ned. There are plenty of rough edges in the junior play too.

Overall, Oltmans had demonstrated results no Indian team has shown in over a generation - he's won us not one but TWO world level medals (Hockey Champions League bronze, Champions Trophy silver) - something we have not done in 35 years until this year. And the Asian Championship on top of that. Just let him be, pay him well and let him have his way and mentor our players and coaches.

Vijender Singh retains WBO Asia-Pacfic title by KO. Cheka couldn't take the blow in the second round (it came like a cobra sting) and resigned in the third.

India 2 Belgium 0 in finals. 6 minutes left in first half.

India wins jr.world cup hockey for the 2nd time. Only Germany has won the Jr. World Cup 2 times. 2-1 in regulation time.

Brilliant end-to-end total hockey with excellent skills. The goal by Gurjant was a gem. India were clearly the best in the tournament. Hope many of these juniors migrate to the senior team and India adopts this style of hockey. The girls team also needs attention. Hope they have women's teams in HIL soon.

sbajwa, thank you for the good news and videos.

Congrats to the junior hockey team! Both those field goals were terrific. Great long ball setup on the first one, and catching the opposition on the wrong foot on the second one with passes within the D . Both the goals came from hard reverse hits at an angle. Very gratifying to watch.

There were couple close misses too! We got 5 penalty corners with 0 conversion. Even the stoppage of the pass (for penalty corner) was faulty., 3 times the player who is suppose to stop the ball stopped it with it bouncing (ball is suppose to be cleanly stopped and at rest). Either something was wrong with the turf or the player was nervous!

Anyhow I saw our goalkeeper Vikas Dahiya improving with each game! He is a good replacement for Shrejas (when he calls off).

Congratulations to the hockey team. More fit, skilled and mentally strong athletes. Augurs well for future of Indian hockey.

Congrats to the Juniors for winning the Hockey World Cup. Hope this is a sign of great things to come.

Supratik wrote:Brilliant end-to-end total hockey with excellent skills. The goal by Gurjant was a gem. India were clearly the best in the tournament. Hope many of these juniors migrate to the senior team and India adopts this style of hockey. The girls team also needs attention. Hope they have women's teams in HIL soon.

Germany have won it 6 times.

GShankar wrote:Congratulations to the hockey team. More fit, skilled and mentally strong athletes. Augurs well for future of Indian hockey.

Yes, this is the key. They always had skills but fell away physically at the junior (and senior too) level. The new generation has both the athleticism and the mental toughness.

India to host Under 17 FIFA world cup in October 2017

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_FIFA_U-17_World_Cup


http://www.rediff.com/sports/report/ind ... 161219.htm

Javier Ceppi, tournament director of the FIFA Under-17 World Cup to be hosted by India next year, expressed his happiness about the way things were moving ahead in the preparation of the tournament.

"They (preparations) are coming along (well). Work is happening in all the venues," said Ceppi in Mumbai on Tuesday, adding work that was stopped due to the conduct of Indian Super League, has restarted at all the venues.

"We are confident and happy about how things are moving. Things are in motion and I hope they get into momentum," Ceppi told reporters after a tie-up was announced with Bank of Baroda for the tournament.

"We have less than 10 months left (for the tournament to commence). This is huge (tie-up with Bank of Baroda). This is the first one for our event," he commented about an Indian bank joining hands with the world football body for a junior event.

The U-17 World Cup is scheduled to be held from October 6-28 and the matches are to held in Navi Mumbai, Goa, New Delhi, Guwahati, Kochi and Kolkata.

Ceppi was impressed with the facilities at the Dr D Y Patil Sports Stadium in Navi Mumbai.

"D Y Patil and Vijay (Patil) are always extremely supportive and huge partners of us. They have done all that was required and they are planning to do more. The (DY Patil) stadium has good bucket seats, but they want to change them.

"They say for the World Cup they want to show a new facility. They have already done up their dressing rooms. We are happy with how the facilities are in Navi Mumbai and it's moving along quite well," Ceppi said.

"For the World Cup, unlike for other events, security is a complete responsibility of the state and local forces, which makes it a little bit different. It's not so dependent on financiers or private security coming in or not (coming in)," he remarked when queried over the security set-up for the event.

"The security forces of the state will be in charge. We have spoken with everybody and all the police forces. They are organised and have plans in place," he added.

http://indianexpress.com/article/sports ... h-4436059/

Just days before the junior hockey team left for its first tournament in 2014, coach Harendra Singh received a call from his family informing him that his cousin – an Armyman – had sacrificed his life while fighting insurgents in Mizoram.

Midfielder Santa Singh, a jovial 20-year-old, was relaxing with some of his teammates after a strenous training session in mid-2015 when he learnt about the death of his sister back home in Sant Nagar, near Chandigarh.

In July this year, as Krishan Pathak geared up for his debut international tournament, a tour to England, his sister from Nepal called to break the news of their father’s passing away.

The junior India hockey team was crowned world champions after a gap of 15 years, when they beat Belgium 2-1 in the final. Behind the joyous Sunday evening scenes are tragic moments that went a long way in forging a strong bond among the players and shape the character of this team.

The Johor Cup in Malaysia in October 2014 was the first time Harendra had a proper assessment of his players. He had been appointed coach six months earlier, but they had been involved only in camps.

The team management decided to leave five days before the tournament began to ensure the players were properly acclimatised. For a majority of the players, this was their first international tour. On the day they were supposed to leave, Harendra got a call from his family. His cousin Mukesh was martyred.

“I did not know how to react. I called my players to the meeting room and told them what had happened,” Harendra says. “(Assistant coach BJ) Kariappa insisted that I return to my village to complete the rituals. Since the team was going five days in advance, he said I could join them before the tournament began.”

But Harendra refused. Abandoning the team ahead of its first major tournament would set a bad precedent, he felt. “I felt it was necessary to set an example. To achieve team goals, you need to make individual sacrifices. That’s the message I wanted to give to the boys,” he adds.

This wasn’t the only tragic incident Harendra suffered as he prepared his bunch of world beaters. In December last year, as the team’s preparation entered its home stretch, Harendra’s son injured his right eye in a freak accident while playing football. His retina was damaged to such an extent that 80 per cent vision was lost in the eye.

Others in the team too made sacrifices. Santa Singh, who started in the midfield in every match of the tournament, chose to skip his sister’s funeral last year while back-up goalkeeper Pathak did not travel to Nepal for his father’s last rites because he wanted to travel with the team for one of their most important exposure tournaments before the World Cup in July.

Galvanizing effect

These incidents brought the team together, Harendra says. “We have a Whatsapp group so everyone gathered in the team meeting room within five minutes. And they would not let the player who suffered the loss stay alone even for a moment. Someone or the other was there to take care of him,” Harendra says.

The coach himself focused on the emotional and psychological needs of the players, knowing well that these are the two key areas where Indian players had invariably faltered. In his first meeting with the players, he reminded them of the Sydney Olympics debacle, where India conceded a late goal against Poland to miss out on a semifinals berth.

“I told them that Indian teams of the past would get too emotional at times, which cost them a lot,” Harendra, who began as a coach in 1998 and has won nine gold medals since, says.

Harendra was a part of the coaching staff back in 2000 as well. He is the ultimate survivor. Various federation presidents have come and gone, the association itself was dissolved and formed again, and a dozen other coaches have been employed and sacked. But Harendra, regarded as one of the most technically sound coaches, has stayed on.

It’s hard to think of a player in the last decade or so who would not have been coached by Harendra at some point in his career – be it with the junior or senior India teams or domestically with Air India, CAG or in the HIL.

He has coached every junior World Cup team since 1998, except the one in 2009. He was in charge of the team in the build-up to the 2001 World Cup, which India won, and was briefly involved with the team that took part in the 2013 edition. They say India had the best generation of players for those two editions. But they were all individualistic in nature.

The hallmark of this team is its unity. And that, Harendra says, is a result of the hard times they have faced. “As a sportsman, sometimes you are not there when your family needs you the most. It hurts,” he says. “But the sacrifices are worth it. We faced all problems together as a team. That’s why we won the World Cup.”

Roelant Oltmans' contract has been renewed to extend upto and including Tokyo Olympics in 2020. Here's an interview with him.

When I played hockey we used wood sticks, leather ball on a grass field. Hockey today is played with Fiber Glass sticks, Plastic ball and with water on the astroturf field. Without having at least 2-3 Astroturf fields in top cities (or villages like Sansarpur in Jalandhar)., India cannot dominate in this type of Hockey. Indian players are off course learning from Hockey India league and using different tactics. Earlier it was all field work (skills of the forward line and middle/back defenders passing it to forwards)., now it is way different. Earlier forwards seldom came back to defend and now they must! and someone from the defenders must become a Drag Flick specialist. The game on astroturf is more or less designed for fast running people., while the game on grass (with leather ball) is a classic Field Hockey.

I think both forms of Hockey can exist and India should become a pioneer in starting "Grass field Hockey" just like we have "Grass Court at wimbledon", "Turf in Australian and US open", "Clay court in French open" for Tennis. There already is Ice Hockey and we must separate the "Field Hockey" from "Turf Hockey" and have "Grass Field Hockey" as a third format of Hockey!

Hockey can also be played on many fields!!
Soccer is still being played exactly the same while Europeans took our national game and converted it to suit their needs!
Let's campaign to have other formats of field Hockey., and figure out how to separate the Soccer from Grass fields so that Indians are at advantage! I can think of playing soccer bare feet (without shoes) type soccer league where we could excel.

I love his answer!! He is an HONEST man!

SANDEEP DWIVEDI: The Indian team has players from different regions. Have you understood the difference in the mindset of a player from, let’s say, Punjab and Odisha or down south?

Players from Punjab are very proud, but their English is poor. The Karnataka boys are extremely good with English and it is very easy for me to communicate with them. But with players from Punjab, it is difficult. Some of them are really working hard (on improving their English) because they understand it is not only important to communicate with me, but with the umpires as well. We have video referrals in our game these days and it is important that you ask the right question.

We play matches in the Hockey India League where a lot of the players are foreigners, and you can’t communicate with them if you only speak Punjabi or any other regional language.

At the same time, they (Punjabi players) love to dance. Music is always there and the players from Punjab create a good atmosphere.

SBajwa wrote: Some of them are really working hard (on improving their English) because they understand it is not only important to communicate with me, but with the umpires as well. We have video referrals in our game these days and it is important that you ask the right question.

In a match I saw, Ranganna was the on field translator for referrals for the Indian team.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/trends ... 48645.html

A hockey stick replaces the gun

Sajeda Momin

It is being claimed that demonitisation has broken the back of the Maoists by making all their cash worthless. But this is merely a short-term solution since in a few months, the Maoists will again get hold of the new currency. There is, however, another man, who is attacking the Maoist menace where it hurts with a more positive approach — by preventing recruits. Dilip Tirkey, three-time Olympian and former Indian hockey team captain, is giving young tribals from the Red Corridor hopes and dreams by picking up hockey sticks and putting down the guns.

By organising the world’s largest rural hockey tournament, the 39-year-old former full-back and deep-defender, now Rajya Sabha member, is telling the youth of his community that if he can do it, so can they. Under the aegis of the Dilip Tirkey Sports Research and Development Foundation, Tirkey has organised the Biju Patnaik Rural Hockey Championships, which has 1,500 teams comprising around 24,000 players competing with each other for three months.

The championships, which began on December 14 last year has teams from 900 villages in the tribal belts of three states — Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand — part of the Naxal-infested Red Corridor. The matches, which are being played at 32 venues across the three states, will culminate in the final match on March 5, Biju Patnaik’s birth anniversary, at the Biju Patnaik Hockey Stadium in Rourkela.

In the presence of Vice-President Hamid Ansari, Odisha Chief Minister Navin Patnaik and a host of other former and current National hockey players, the once-shy Tirkey told thousands of young, enthusiastic tribals gathered for the inauguration not to join the Maoists.

“We do have a problem in our midst, and that is a few of our young friends have strayed from the path of righteousness. I also ask them to come back and pick up a hockey stick, instead of a gun,” said Tirkey.

These areas are characterised by unemployment, illiteracy, over-population, and most importantly, poverty, which is the prime breeding ground for Naxal recruits.

“This is the only chance we have of establishing what I call the ‘Hockey Order’ so that we can organise the youth towards an activity, which gives them a chance to get jobs in various sectors,” said Tirkey.

The Olympian, who too came from a very humble background, said “What would I have been if I hadn’t picked up a hockey stick?” It’s also about self-respect and giving back to a society which has given him so much.

“Trying to discipline youngsters cannot be just the job of educationists. Somewhere sport has to play a part,” says Tirkey. Tirkey began working on the tournament more than eight months ago. He admits that as all players are from poor and rural background, the logistics of getting them here and upto speed was a nightmare. However, now seeing their enthusiasm, he would like to see this turn into an all-India affair.

The Rajya Sabha MP and Navin Patnaik’s blue-eyed boy, Tirkey’s detractors have accused him of organising the championships with a political end in mind — helping him win the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from the area. “I don’t see anything wrong in what he is doing. If he is empowering the youth, why criticise that? Today he has brought forward hockey as an instrument for change. I think we should appreciate that,” said Shakti Singh, Santosh Trophy footballer and friend.

Tirkey grew up in the underdeveloped district of Sundergarh and put it on the country’s map with his hockey exploits. After retiring in 2010, he was nominated to the Rajya Sabha by the Biju Janata Dal. In 2014, Tirkey did run for the Lok Sabha on a BJD ticket from here but lost by a narrow margin. However, he rejects the possible political overtones of the tournament. “I am clear that this is a hockey event, and there is nothing political about it”.

The aim of the initiative is to scout for hockey talent, generate interest for the game among the youth and help them find the right path. Even if the championship is able to stop one tribal youth from picking up a gun and becoming a Naxal, it is a success, he adds.

What a massive effort!!

108 pranaams to him.

India now ranked 129 - highest in 10 years. Lets see if they qualify for the Asian Cup.

http://indianexpress.com/article/sports ... l-4471548/


Six guys to look out for in mens badminton in the near future - Sourabh Verma, Sameer Verma, Aditya Joshi, Siril Verma, Chirag Sen, Lakshya Sen.

They are between 17-24 years old. I see initial signs of an assembly line in singles (both men and women) taking shape.

India Juniors win Asian Squash Championship Gold!

HONG KONG: Top seed India defeated Malaysia 2-0 to win the gold medal in the boy's team event at the Asian Junior Squash championship on Sunday.

Indian boys had won the title for the second time, the earlier being in 2011 when they defeated arch-rivals Pakistan in Colombo.

Fresh from his Asian individual and British Junior Open successes, India's No. 1 player Velavan Senthilkumar defeated second seed Malaysia's Ong Sai Hun in quick time.

Then Abhay Singh prevailed over Darren Rahul in hard-fought five games to lift the title for India.


National coach Cyrus Poncha was ecstatic with his wards showing.


"It was brilliant stuff from the Indians," said Poncha.


Squash Rackets Federation of India (SRFI) patron N Ramachandran also expressed his happiness over India's performance.


"After the British Junior Open success and now the Asian championship, it is clear junior squash in the country is on a firm foundation, thanks to the structured training that was started more than a decade ago. My congratulations to the entire team for winning the Asian crown again," Ramachandran said.

jitu Rai wins gold and Amanpreet silver in 50m at WC. Boxing league to start in 2017 end. For those who don't know a basketball league has been running for last 2-3 yrs called UBA but not adverised widely.

Meanwhile when an individual wins bronze, nobody pays attention: https://www.sportskeeda.com/chess/harik ... ing-heroes

In mens doubles badmiton, the young pair of Satviksairaj rankireddy and Chirag Shetty have won the Vietnam international challenge tournament. Their 5th title together.
http://newschoupal.com/2017/03/26/india ... -together/

They are a pair of 18-19 year olds.

U-17 WC: Kolkata to host final; Mumbai, Guwahati get semis

Kolkata will host the summit clash of the U-17 World Cup football on October 28 while Navi Mumbai and Guwahati were chosen to stage the semi-finals of the prestigious FIFA tournament the country is hosting for the first time.

The 85,000 capacity Vivekananda Yuva Bharati Krirangan, which was refurbished by spending crores of rupees for the October 6-28 tournament, will also host the third place play-off match, one match each of round of 16 and quarter-finals, besides six Group F matches.

The announcement of the tournament schedule came after a seven-day visit by an eight-member FIFA team led by its head of events Jaime Yarza. The FIFA officials, along with Local Organising Committee members, inspected all the six cities -- Kolkata, New Delhi, Guwahati, Margao, Kochi and Navi Mumbai -- which will host the tournament. Kolkata was the last port of call for the FIFA team.

The two semi-finals will be held in Navi Mumbai's DY Patil Stadium and Indira Gandhi Athletics Stadium in Guwahati.

DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai, which has been termed as the benchmark venue by the visiting FIFA team, will also be home to Group A and host a round of 16 match. Guwahati will be home to Group E besides hosting one round of 16 and one quarter-final match.

New Delhi will stage Group B matches, besides two round of 16 games. The Capital City will host its last match on October 16 due to the pollution concerns which has robbed it from hosting marquee matches.

Margao will be home to Group C, besides hosting two matches of round of 16 and one quarter-final game while Kochi's Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, which has been rated worst by the FIFA team in terms of preparations, will be the venue for Group D matches, besides one round of 16 and one quarter-final match.

"We know October is a month of festival in India and we want this to be a festival of football," Yarza said.

Asked how Kolkata pipped Mumbai for the final, he said, "We love DY Patil. After what we saw here today we are confident that Salt Lake Stadium has stood up the benchmark. This is one of the stadiums that has improved greatly. All members of my team are very pleased. It's really becoming one of the best stadiums in India, if not the top.

"We are happy. This is a stadium that is fulfilling all the high standards. Obviously it is not finished. Things can change but we have received guarantees from the ministers that everything will develop like we requested. Then we can have a fantastic World Cup here."

PV Sindhu wins the India Open Super Series, after a spectacular run where she beat Saina Nehwal in quarters, Sung Ji Hyun in semi and then Carolina Marin in the final .