Expect greater things from India's hockey teams: Former coach Harendra Singh

The Indian men's hockey team bagged the bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics after defeating Germany in the third place match on August 5. India defeated Germany 5-4 to clinch the Olympic medal. This is India's first hockey medal in 41 years. Harmanpreet Singh, Hardik Singh, Simranjeet Singh and Rupinder Pal Singh scored for India. Image source: Hockey India Twitter.

India made history in Tokyo as the men’s hockey team won a medal at the Olympics for the first time in 41 years. While the men’s team won bronze, the women’s team too made the country proud finishing fourth in the competition. They lost by a goal to Britain in the bronze medal match. While the credit does go the players who got the job done on the field, lot of work was done by the support staf, especially the coaches who got the teams in such shape. Harendra Singh is one of the rare coaches from India who has worked with both the men’s and women’s teams. In fact, he had been a junior coach of the national team as well. Despite playing only 23 internationals for India, he went on to coach over 350 international games. In April, Harendra was appointed head coach of the USA hockey team and Indian hockey teams’ terrific shows in Tokyo has brought tears in his eyes. Moneycontrol.com spoke exclusively to Harendra and he is all praise for both the hockey teams. Here is an edited excerpt.

Q: Your thought on women’s missing a golden opportunity to win a medal.

H Singh: They won hearts even if they lost the medal. It is the beginning of a new era. They have shown that they will no longer be just participants and have left a lasting impression.

Q: You coached the women’s team that won the gold medal in the 2017 Asia cup. Did you ever imagine that few years down the line they would be on the brink of an Olympic medal?

H Singh: Yes, I was confident. One thing I know that Indian hockey players don’t lack is the self -belief, because of the hardships they endure from their early childhood.  We won the Asia cup after 16 years and that was the dawn for women’s hockey and remember teams from Japan and China were also there. In 2010 CWG, we lost narrowly in the semifinals.

Q: A lot of people must have worked behind the curtains to make such a transition?

H Singh: Back then, the team had everything except the required fitness level for international hockey. One of the unsung heroes of this triumph is fitness coach Wayne Patrick Lombard (Scientific advisor) who is the strength and conditioning coach. He asked for a longer tenure and did all that was needed to be done.  He put in a structure, brought in nutritionists. All these years, the SAI has been very supportive. I must say Sjoerd Marijne has played a big role in taking it to a different level after I left. One more thing I would like to add is how the sense of security has emboldened the players. I remember a decade back a very fine player like Savita Punia had no job and I cried. How could I demand anything from her? I spoke to Mr. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore (then sports minister) and he too was stunned but ensured that she got a job in SAI.

Q: Men’s team has a great legacy while women had nothing. In that sense, it makes their achievement bigger even without a medal. Doesn’t it?

A-Legacy is also a burden. We were always reminded that nothing short of gold will satisfy anyone while women had no such historic burden of a glorious legacy. They had nothing to lose and I am glad that they were willing to express themselves. You can’t be comparing both teams but the women’s team will not make us wait long for an Olympics medal.

Q: Isn’t this also a fact that women’s hockey have got a shorter talent pool?

H Singh: I don’t necessarily agree with that. But India has never reached semi-final with a ranking of 9 in the last 59 years and they must be applauded for that. They deserve to be saluted in front of India Gate.

Q-Any individual who stood out for you?

H Singh: As a coach I never speak about individuals because unlike cricket where a bowler, batsman or a fielder can win you a match, it doesn’t work like that in hockey. History tells you that the superstar player culture of 4-5 players was detrimental to the team. The modern team has got a sense of equality. They are united. The reason for missing out for the last 41 years was focusing on individuals. Savita, Rani, Neha, Monika, Sushila and everyone else has contributed equally. In this team, midfielders scored more goals than forwards and the midfielder is ahead of striker.

Q: What is the road ahead for women’s team?

H Singh: We should divide the country (for hockey) in five or six regions as high-performance centers. Players should be filtered from there to reach the national team. Luckily junior program for the hockey team is excellent and in South Africa they will win the world cup. Future is secured. The current team is good and remaining 28 girls out of the team are also good but they need to play in the pro leagues.

Q: Some former players have argued that the Men’s bronze medal is better than gold.

H Singh: I agree with that argument. Let’s go back to history. When we won silver in 1960, we were told that no one praised us and in fact then nothing was acceptable besides a gold medal. Then we lost touch with modern hockey. We couldn’t not feel what an Olympics medal is all about. Now the new generation will know this team as the one that broke the jinx. The good thing is we have started afresh with a bronze so there is always scope for improvement.

Q: What was the turning point and what separated this team from the past?

H Singh: My last press conference in India when I quit the post, I had told the media not to look for immediate results and to have patience. I did say Tokyo would bring a medal, although I wasn’t sure of the colour. What separates this team from others is the immense self belief. They also have superior basic skills of passing, scoring and tackling. Today a forward can play in defense; the defender can play as forward.

Q: Any thoughts on the roles played by the foreign coaches over the years?

H Singh: Oh, they have played a huge role in this revival story. The reason for our decline was largely due to the fact that we lacked good coaches. Besides some great names like MK Kaushik, Cedrik Dsouza we didn’t have many good coaches in India. Many foreign coaches including Graham Reid played a great part.

Q: Finally, did you speak to the players after the result?

H Singh: Yes, I spoke to all players. I don’t consider myself a guru, but an elder brother. Sreejesh told me over a video call that it was my medal and that is the ultimate satisfaction as coach. Now they have tested blood and you can expect bigger things from them.