Article by K. Pradeep, courtesy Hindu; Photograph courtesy Stick2Hockey.com

he car veers to the left and stops beside a small bakery at the quiet village of Erumely, near Kizhakkambalam, around 25 kilometres from Kochi. A couple of curious eyes peer at you, and turn bewildered when you ask them directions to the house of Indian junior hockey goalkeeper, P. R. Sreejesh. It becomes quite obvious that they have not heard of their native's achievements in the national sport.

Not surprising. It is usual for ordinary players in some high-profile sport to be lauded and turned heroes overnight, while genuine achievers in a lower-profile sport like Sreejesh often go unnoticed.

A couple of frantic calls on Sreejesh's mobile and a motorcyclist stops beside the car. He leads us through narrow lanes, past vast stretches of paddy fields, rubber and banana plantations, and a temple pond, to a small house set amidst trees and flowers. The tall, strapping, 20-year-old Sreejesh is in his India jersey, and a broad smile greets us.

In the recent Junior Asia Cup held in Hyderabad (July 2008), which India won, Sreejesh was selected as the best goalkeeper of the tournament. It was a crowning moment in this hard-working goalkeeper's career, one punctuated by struggles.

Sreejesh did not begin as a hockey player. While at school, he was a shot-putter. When he joined the G. V. Raja Sports School in Thiruvananthapuram, he started off with athletics training, before he made the switch to hockey. That happened when he was halfway into Class VIII.

Picked up by hockey coaches Jayakumar and Ramesh Kolappa at the sports school, Sreejesh soon got hooked to the beauty of hockey. He went on to represent Kerala schools and also played in the Nehru Cup tournament.

From then it was a real slog to the top. Sreejesh was considered 'too junior' to be selected for the 2004 Junior Asia Cup in Karachi. He was picked for the senior national camp at Chandigarh in 2003, prior to the India-Pakistan series. Though he did not make it to the team, he says that was a true learning experience.

In October 2004, Sreejesh made his international debut with the junior Indian team in the Test series against Australia at Perth. He also got to play in the junior tours to Pakistan and Malaysia in March of 2005.

There was no looking back for this goalkeeper. His progress has been steady and his performances under the bar consistent. He played for the country in the Junior World Cup in Rotterdam (June 2005), 6-nation Junior Challenge Tournament in Poland (May 2006) which India won, South Asian Federation Games in Sri Lanka (August 2006) where India lost to Pakistan in the final, 8-nation Junior Challenge Tournament in Germany (August 2007), and the Indoor Asian Games in Macau (October 2007), where India came third behind Iran and South Korea.

2008 has been a dream year for Sreejesh. He played in the 8-nation junior tournament in Malaysia (January 2008) where India finished runner-up to Australia, and made his senior international debut in the Azlan Shah Cup in Ipoh (May 2008), where India finished runner-up to Argentina.

His career highlight so far has been the Junior Asia Cup in Hyderabad (July 2008), which India won, and where he was named the best goalkeeper of the tournament. Says Sreejesh, "In the Asia Cup I played six games and conceded only four goals. There were some exciting moments like the brawl against Pakistan in the semi-final, and the nail-biting final against South Korea which was decided by the golden goal."

Sreejesh pauses for a moment. "There was a time when I struggled to find a sponsor. My father, a small-time farmer, had very little to shell out of his savings to support me. Yet he did so much for me. A goalkeeper kit costs more than 50,000. There were times when I felt so bad when I saw others coming with the latest equipment. Now I have a sponsor, and an assistant manager job with the Indian Overseas Bank in Chennai. The clouds have cleared though the scars remain."

It suddenly begins to rain. With the early showers of the monsoon, the fields nearby are flooded and filled with fishes. There was a time when Sreejesh used to wait longingly for those rainy days. Then with his fishing rods, he used to spend time in the fields and the temple pond in the company of his friends

Says Sreejesh, "I miss those lovely days. Nowadays, I'm home only for a couple of days due to the regular training sessions and ongoing league matches in Chennai. Also, most of my childhood friends are not here anymore. How I wish I could turn back the clock for a while."

Sreejesh drives with us to the small junction that leads to our road back. Even as he gets down and waves goodbye to us, I notice a crowd of schoolboys and a couple of aged men stare at this strong youth with a warm smile. By the time our car gained speed, the school boys and others crowded around one of their own - India goalkeeper Parattu Ravindran Sreejesh.

Photograph courtesy Hockey Village India

ockey Village India, run by the Bua Sa Foundation in the village of Garh Himmat Singh in Rajasthan, was founded in 2009 by Andrea Thumshirn of Germany. The village is located halfway between Agra and Jaipur, and has a population of about 4000 people.

Andrea is a tour operator in Berlin, and specialises in Asian tours. In her spare time, she loves to play hockey, and has been playing for 30 years.

In January 2009, on one of her travel tours, Andrea visited the village of Garh Himmat Singh, and immediately fell in love with everything she saw - the hospitality of the people, the simple life, the smiling but timid children, the relaxing atmosphere, the landscape and an old ruined fort in village.

In February 2010, on another of her tours, she visited the village and handed over some hockey sticks donated by German hockey company BHP.

In March 2010, the mothers of German national players Moritz Fürste and Florian Fuchs visited the village. They were in India for the Hero Honda World Cup that was held in Delhi in February/March 2010. Around this time, there was a donation of 100 hockey sticks by another Germany hockey company THW.

In June of 2010, with the support of German actress Anne-Sophie Briest, the Foundation was able to collect 108 pairs of sport shoes for the children in the village.

In February of 2011, two hockey goal posts were donated to the village, along with 20 used sticks (many of the earlier set of sticks had got broken). The kids loved the goal post because they could now hear a sound when they scored a goal. Unlike earlier, they did not have to run after the ball whenever a goal was scored.

At this stage, a sponsor from Pakistan donated 50 sticks, though this got held up in the black hole of Indian Customs, and never reached the village.

India player Sardara Singh has visited Hockey Village India, and is an ambassador of the village.

Besides hockey, the Foundation has also provided amenities to the school going children in the village. The Foundation has distributed schools uniforms, bags, and has arranged for volunteers to teach English.

The registered address of the Bua Sa Foundation is C175, Vaishali Nagar, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. They can be reached at info@hockeyvillageindia.com. Donations to the Bua Sa Foundation can be made to the following:

Bank Name: Axis Bank Ltd.
Account Name: Bua Sa Foundation
Account No.: 910020024127031

Photograph of Rupinder Pal Singh courtesy Stick2Hockey.com

he 20th 7-nation Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament was held at Ipoh, Malaysia, from May 5 to May 15. Sultan Azlan Shah Cup is the only international hockey tournament in all of Asia, held successfully for the past 20 years.

The Azlan Shah Cup was the first tournament after the ouster of Spanish coach Jose Brasa by low IQ Indian hockey officials. His replacement as chief coach, Harendra Singh, showed that he is not in the same class as Jose Brasa.

Under Brasa, India won the men's hockey silver medal in the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi. This was the first ever men's hockey medal for India in the Commonwealth Games. In the prior edition, India had finished 6th in the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, coached by Rajinder Singh Jr.

Under Brasa, India won the men's hockey bronze in the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou. In the prior edition, India had finished 5th in the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, coached by Bhaskaran (chief coach) and Harendra Singh (assistant coach).

Under Brasa, India never lost a match to Pakistan, beating them in the 2010 World Cup (India 4 - Pakistan 1), 2010 Azlan Shah Cup (India 4 - Pakistan 2), 2010 Commonwealth Games (India 7 - Pakistan 4) and 2010 Asian Games (India 3 - Pakistan 2). Under Harendra Singh as chief coach, India promptly lost the first time it played against Pakistan, losing 1-3 to Pakistan in the 20th Azlan Shah Cup.

Under Brasa, India was the co-winner of the 2010 Azlan Shan Cup. Under Harendra Singh, went from defending champion to a disappointing 6th in the 2011 Azlan Shah Cup, closing out the tournament with a hat trick of defeats.

India's match results in the 2011 Azlan Shah Cup were as follows:

Stage	Date	Result	Goal Scorers (India)
Pool	May 5	South Korea 3 - India 2	Divakar Ram (20 min, PC) Danish Mujtaba (27 min)
	May 6	India 3 - Great Britain 1	Rupinderpal Singh (10, 55, 57 min), all PCs
	May 8	India 1 - Australia 1	Rupinderpal Singh (23 min, PC)
	May 9	India 5 - Malaysia 2	Roshan Minz (8 min) Mandeep Antil (18, 69 min) Rupinderpal Singh (22 min, PC) Somvarpet Vittalacharya Sunil (35 min)
	May 11	Pakistan 3 - India 1	Rupinderpal Singh (22 min, PC)
	May 12	New Zealand 7 - India 3	Somvarpet Vittalacharya Sunil (24 min) Gurvinder Singh Chandi (26, 41 min)
5th vs. 6th	May 15	South Korea 2 - India 1	Vikram Vishnu Pillai (41 min)

The final standings in the 20th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament were: 1 - Australia, 2 - Pakistan, 3 - Great Britain, 4 - New Zealand, 5 - South Korea, 6 - India, 7 - Malaysia

The following were the tournament awards:

• Player of the Final: Christopher Ciriello (Australia)
• Goalkeeper of the Tournament: Kumar Subramanian (Malaysia)
• Top Goal Scorer of the Tournament: Rupinderpal Singh (India) and Sohail Abbas (Pakistan)
• Player of the Tournament: Shakeel Abbasi (Pakistan)
• Fairplay Trophy: India and Pakistan

23-year-old Rupinderpal Singh was also the only Indian to make it to the all-tournament Sultan Azlan Shah XI. The selection panel comprised chief coaches of the 7 participating teams, along with the national coaches of Netherlands and Japan.

The Indian team for the 20th Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament was as follows:

Goalkeepers: Adrian D'Souza, Bharat Kumar Chhetri

Full-backs: Dhananjay Mahadik, Divakar Ram, Rupinderpal Singh

Half-backs: Arjun Halappa (captain), Gurbaj Singh, Ravipal Singh, Vikram Vishnu Pillai, Vikas Vishnu Pillai, Vikas Sharma

Forwards: Shivendra Singh, Somvarpet Vittalacharya Sunil, Mandeep Antil, Sarvanjeet Singh, Gurvinder Singh Chandi, Danish Mujtaba

Officials: Chief Coach - Harendra Singh, Manager - Col. Balbir Singh

Aga Khan Celebrity Hockey - Rahul Bose, Dileep Vengsarkar, Chitrashi Ravat
All photographs by Prakash Jadhav, courtesy Daily News & Analysis

he 101st Aga Khan hockey tournament, sponsored by Development Credit Bank, was held at Bombay Gymkhana, Mumbai, from May 15 to May 21. The Aga Khan tournament, which was first held in 1896, is the world's second oldest, and Mumbai's most prestigious hockey event.

The organising secretary of the event was Olympian Viren Rasquinha, who said, "When I was 10, my dad brought me to Bombay Gymkhana where I watched my very first match. It was a thrilling experience that inspired me to become a hockey player."

Dileep Vengsarkar, who used to be a huge hockey fan, said at the celebrity hockey event: "Before India's tour to the West Indies in 1976, we had a camp in Chennai (then Madras). The Indian hockey team was playing Malaysia in the same city. So, we decided to watch the hockey team play. I clearly remember that a strong and a knowledgeable Chennai hockey crowd had gathered. Ajitpal Singh, B. P. Govinda, Aslam Sher Khan and the others played like true champions. India won the match and the entire cricket team was impressed by the performance."

8 outstation teams and 8 local city teams participated in the 2011 edition of the Aga Khan tournament, held under the aegis of Hockey India. The late evening (7 pm) matches were played under floodlights, which was a first for the tournament.

Surprisingly, both defending champion Air India and runner up Punjab Police did not feature in this year's 4.5 lakh prize money tournament.

Two outstation teams - Bharat Petroleum (Bengaluru) and Oil and Natural Gas Commission, ONGC (Delhi) - who were seeded directly into the quarter-finals, reached the final of the tournament, with the following match results:

Stage	Date	Bharat Petroleum	Date	Oil and Natural Gas Commission
Quarters	May 17	beat Indian Overseas Bank (Chennai) 5-0	May 19	beat Bombay Engineering Group (Pune) 3-0
Semis	May 20	beat Dakshin Madhya Rail (Secunderabad) 1-0	May 20	beat Indian Oil (Bengaluru) 5-2
Final	May 21	beat ONGC 4-1

Bharat Petroleum was awarded prize money worth 2.5 lakh, while runner-up ONGC received 1.5 lakh.

The Man of the Match for each match upto the quarter-finals received 1,000, and from the semi-finals onwards, the winners received 3,000 each.

The following were the tournament awards (cash prize of 5,000 each):

• Player of the Final: Ajay Saroha (Bharat Petroleum)
• Goalkeeper of the Tournament: Jasvinder Singh (Rail Coach Factory)
• Midfielder of the Tournament: Ravipal Singh (Bharat Petroleum)
• Defender of the Tournament: Irshad Ali (Bharat Petroleum)
• Forward of the Tournament: Pramod Kumar (ONGC)

The Player of the Tournament was awarded to Bikash Toppo (ONGC), who won a cash prize of 10,000.

The semi-finals and final were telecast live on Doordarshan Sports.

Packed Aishbagh Stadium for the Obedullah Khan Hockey Final - Photograph by Satish Tevre , courtesy Dainik Bhaskar

he 65th Obedullah Khan Gold Cup hockey tournament was held at the Aishbagh Hockey Stadium in Bhopal, from May 23-31. The tournament was organised by the Khel aur Yuva Kalyan Vibhag, Government of Madhya Pradesh, and was inaugurated by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan. The inauguration also featured a laser show depicting the rich history of hockey in Bhopal.

12 teams took part in the tournament, including two foreign teams - Sapura Club of Malaysi and Bangladesh XI.

Indian Oil Corporation, captained by veteran Deepak Thakur, and Bharat Petroleum reached the final of the tournament, with the following match results:

Stage	Date	Indian Oil Corporation	Date	Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd.
Pool	May 25	beat Sapura Club (Malaysia) 4-0	May 24	drew with Bharatiya Rail (Railways) 1-1
	May 26	beat Namdhari XI 3-2	May 27	beat Punjab Police 4-1
Quarters	May 29	beat Bharatiya Rail (Railways) 4-1	May 29	beat Namdhari XI 3-1
Semis	May 30	beat Air India 6-0	May 30	beat Oil and Natural Gas Commission 2-1 (extra-time)
Final	May 31	beat Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. 3-2

Air India beat ONGC 4-3 to finish third.

Winner Indian Oil was awarded prize money worth 11 lakh, runner-up Bharat Petroleum received 5.5 lakh., third-placed Air India 2.75 lakh, and fourth-placed ONGC was richer by 1 lakh.

The following were the tournament awards:

• Player of the Final: Deepak Thakur (Indian Oil)
• Goalkeeper of the Tournament: Baljeet Singh (Indian Oil)
• Defender of the Tournament: V. R. Raghunath (Indian Oil)
• Midfielder of the Tournament: Divakar Ram (ONGC)
• Forward of the Tournament: Prabhjyot Singh (Indian Oil)
• Player of the Tournament: Kothajeet Singh (Indian Oil)

Two back-to-back hockey tournaments were held within the span of a fortnight - the Aga Khan tournament in Mumbai and the Obedullah Khan tournament in Bhopal. The prize money for the Obedullah Khan hockey tournament was around 5 times the prize money for the Aga Khan hockey tournament.

The Aga Khan tournament had more glamour, but the Obedullah Khan tournament awarded more cash. To players for whom hockey is a profession in India, cash will trump glamour any day.

Photograph courtesy The Times

he Photograph of the Month for June 2011 is of Joe Galibardy's 1936 Berlin Olympics identification card. Joe Galibardy passed away on May 17, 2011, and his funeral took place on May 31, 2011 at Our Lady and St. Georges Church in the London suburb of Walthamstow.

Galibardy, who played at left-half, was the last surviving member of the Indian and German teams that played in the Berlin Olympic hockey final. The 1936 Olympic final is notable for the following reasons:

A record crowd of 40,000 spectators watched the 1936 final. This possibly remains the largest attendance of any Olympic hockey final to date

The victory margin (India 8 - Germany 1) is the largest margin of victory in any Olympic hockey final, men's or women's, till date.

The 1936 Olympic hockey final was the first ever final to be filmed (by the famous German film maker Leni Riefenstahl).

The 1936 final was the first time an Indian flag (albeit the Congress Tricolour) was saluted in the dressing room. The official Indian flag, though, for the 1936 Olympics was the Union Jack with the Star of India insignia.

The 1936 Indian Olympic hockey team was the last ever team of undivided India. The next Olympics, held in London in 1948, saw a newly created country Pakistan make its debut.

The 1936 Olympic hockey final saw the largest representation of royalty and leaders grace an Olympic hockey match. Present in the audience were the Maharaja of Baroda, the Princess of Bhopal, German leaders like Hermann Goering, Joseph Goebells, and possibly the Führer.

Article by Uthra G. Chaturvedi, courtesy The Indian Express

isagreement over the hosting fee amount between the Lal Bahadur Shastri Hockey Trust and Hockey India (HI) might see the scrapping of the 4-nation u-21 women's tournament that is scheduled to be held in Delhi from November 8 to 12.

Organising secretary K. D. Parashar of the Lal Bahadur Shastri Hockey Trust, a body which has organised national level events for several decades, said, "We have written confirmation from Germany, Australia and New Zealand regarding their participation in the 4-nation junior girls tournament. They have even given their dates for arrival. But we are still awaiting confirmation from Hockey India on the Indian team's participation."

HI secretary general Narinder Batra said, "We have no objections to this tournament, we welcome the move by the organisers. But the hosting fee of 3.80 lakh needs to be paid up front to ensure they are serious about it. The Punjab Government is hosting a 4-nation Punjab Gold Cup in December, and they have paid the same amount."

Counters Parashar, "We have with us a letter from HI dated March 17, 2011, where they asked Shastri Hockey Trust to pay 2 lakh to host the tournament. The hosting fee has been suddenly hiked to 3.80 lakh, and HI did not give us any reason for raising this amount. In any case, we have already paid 3 lakh, and have assured HI of paying up the rest soon. But HI has threatened to not forward the proposal to FIH unless the entire amount is paid."

Article by Gouri Shah and Anushree Chandran, courtesy LiveMint.com

t's official. The fourth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) wasn’t as big a hit as its previous editions.

Analysts who had based statements to the effect on empty stadia during the matches, need only look as far as television rating numbers for corroboration.

Category	IPL 1	IPL 2	IPL 3	IPL 4
Season Average	5.39 TVR	4.46 TVR	5.51 TVR	3.91 TVR
IPL Final	11.69 TVR	10.70 TVR	12.85 TVR	6.96 TVR

According to data for the top six Indian metros from TAM Sports, a division of TAM Media Research Pvt. Ltd::

• The IPL 4 final registered an average television rating of 6.96, the lowest in four years
• The IPL 4 tournament as a whole registered an average rating of 3.91, also the lowest in four years
• In comparison, the 2011 World Cup Cricket final had an average television rating of 23.2

TVR reflects the percentage of total television viewers that are watching a particular programme at a specific time. The top six metros included in the survey were Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Delhi and Hyderabad.

Experts said viewer fatigue may have been responsible for the slump in viewership. The IPL followed on the heels of the Cricket World Cup, which was won by India.

The greater number of IPL 4 matches (74 matches over seven weeks), changes in the team composition, and the addition of two new teams may have also contributed to the fall in viewership, say experts.

"The IPL is too long a format to sustain interest. Reach has gone up but time spent has gone down significantly. This could be due to the longer format or inclusion of new players in various teams," says Shubha George, chief operating officer, MEC, GroupM Media India Pvt. Ltd.

Viewership may also have fallen because some of the matches were inconsequential, involving teams that were already out of the tournament but had to finish their quota of matches anyway.

Media buyers expect to see some correction in ad rates charged by broadcaster Multi Screen Media Pvt. Ltd, which broadcast the matches on its channel Set Max. According to a spokesperson for the channel, a 10-second spot during IPL-4 was pegged at approximately 5.25-5.30 lakh.

"I am not sure about the large advertisers, but many who are on the periphery will rethink their plans on IPL. They could move it to other properties," said Sejal Shah, vice-president, India Media Exchange.

he June 2011 Visitor of the Month is Manoj Mahala, a student at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, who wrote the following to BharatiyaHockey.org:

I have been visiting your website for a long time, and like it a lot. It is very good resource of information on Indian hockey.

For promoting and writing about hockey, I have started a website called The Fans of Hockey. We are also on Facebook (Hockey Fans Club) and on Twitter (@thefansofhockey).

Statistics by B. G. Joshi

he June 2011 edition of Fun with Numbers lists the Women's Champions Trophy tournament records of the 8 countries participating in the 2011 Women's Champions Trophy in Amsterdam (June 25 - July 3).

India has never ever qualfied for the Women's Champions Trophy. Asian powers China (10 appearances) and South Korea (9 appearances) have not not only qualifed for the Champions Trophy multiple times, but have also won a gold medal each. The gap between Indian women's hockey and China/South Korea at the world level is indeed large.

Australia has won the most number of consecutive Women's Champions Trophy tournaments (5, from 1991 through 1999)

Minke Smeets Smabers (NED) has won the most Women's Champions Trophy medals (11, including 3 Gold, 3 Silver, 5 Bronze).

Rechelle Hawkes (AUS) and Juliet Haslam (AUS) have won the most Women's Champions Trophy gold medals (5).

Luciana Aymar (ARG) has appeared in the most Women's Champions Trophy tournaments (12) and has played in the maximum number of matches (72).

Nadine Ernsting-Krienke (GER) has scored the most Women's Champions Trophy goals (22).

Lim Gae Sook (KOR) has scored the most goals in a single Women's Champions Trophy match (4 goals vs. New Zealand in 1987).

WOMEN'S CHAMPION TROPHY TOURNAMENT RECORDS

Country	Tournaments	P	W	L	D	GF	GA	Best Finish
Australia	17	99	58	22	19	216	107	Gold (6) - 1991, 93, 95, 97, 99, 2003
Netherlands	17	99	55	22	22	200	109	Gold (5) - 1987, 2000, 04, 05, 07
Argentina	13	78	39	20	19	155	102	Gold (4) - 2001, 08, 09, 10
Germany	14	82	38	27	17	135	116	Gold (1) - 2006
China	10	59	16	27	16	89	100	Gold (1) - 2002
South Korea	9	51	17	28	6	80	105	Gold (1) - 1989
England/Great Britain	8	46	10	28	8	45	219	Bronze (1) - 2010
New Zealand	8	47	6	31	10	43	137	5th (4) - 1999, 2001, 02, 10