ockey in My Blood is a film on hockey in the Kodagu district of Karnataka, set against the backdrop of the annual Kodava Family Hockey Festival.

Kodagu is located in the Western Ghats of southwestern Karnataka, and is well known for its coffee plantations. The largest community in Kodagu is the martial community of Kodavas, known for their strong ties to land, army and hockey!

It is said that if a Kodava is not working on a coffee plantation, he is likely to be either in the Indian army or playing hockey. More than 50 Kodavas have represented India in international hockey tournaments, out of which 7 have also participated in the Olympics.

The Kodava Hockey Festival is an annual family-based hockey tournament, and with 200+ families participating, is one of the largest hockey tournaments in the world.

The director of the film is Sandhya Kumar, an independent filmmaker based in Bengaluru. She has been making documentary films since 2008. She obtained her MA in Mass Communication from Jamia Millia University in Delhi, following which she got her MFA in Film from the San Francisco Art Institute in USA.

This is Sandhya in her own words on why she made this film:

Hockey is India's national sport, yet the nation is obsessed with cricket. In every open space and alleyway of India, the sport played is cricket.

Kodagu is a notable exception. Ask any Kodava why he plays hockey and he will simply say - because it is in my blood. Every town in Kodagu has a hockey stadium, and every village has a school ground or a paddy field that doubles up as a hockey field.

In 1997, in response to the changing status of hockey nationally, a unique event was conceptualized - a hockey tournament pitting Kodagu's families against each other. With age and gender being no bar, the only condition was that all team members had to be from the same family, and every year a different family was to play host to the tournament.

When I first heard about the Festival, my initial reaction was of curiosity. What would attract such a large number of family-based teams to travel to Kodagu to play this tournament each year? As I researched more, my curiosity turned into fascination.

I found a community that was neither complaining of the declining status of hockey, nor looking for any outside help in keeping its love for hockey alive. They had started their own festival, levelled their own playgrounds, raised funding and ran their own tournament year after year.

Family members who didn't know each other a decade ago now took the field together. Young boys and girls who were toddlers in the crowd during the early years of the Festival were now not only playing for their families but also for the state and national teams. For one region to continue to be so passionate about a game in decline is a story in itself. How the Kodavas have used sport as a social glue is uniquely another.

The filmmaker completed most of the shooting with her personal funds and resources. She is now looking for financial help to edit the 60+ hours of footage and turn it into a feature length documentary film. The various categories of donations she is seeking are as listed below:

Amount	Token of Appreciation
2,000	Will receive a DVD of the Film
5,000	Above + Listed in Honour Roll as Supporter
10,000	All of the Above + 2 Film Premiere/Dinner invitations
25,000	All of the Above + Listed as Sponsor in End Credits
50,000	All of the Above + Framed Poster of Film + 2 more Film Premiere/Dinner invitations
1 lakh	All of the Above + Listed as Silver Sponsor in End Credits
2.5 lakh	All of the Above + Signed Indian Hockey Jersey + Listed as Gold Sponsor in End Credits
5 lakh	All of the Above + Listed as Presenting Sponsor in End Credits

You can donate online to this documentary at: http://www.orangestreet.in/projects/hockey.

The victorious Air India team, national men's hockey champions 2014

he 4th Hockey India men's national hockey championship was held in two phases. Division 'B' comprised 22 teams that fared poorly in last year's championship, while Division 'A' comprised the top 19 teams in the country. This was done to avoid lop-sided scores when a top-tier team played a weak team.

Division 'B' of the men's national hockey championship was held from February 27 to March 13 at the Major Dhyan Chand stadium in the Guru Govind Singh Sports College in Lucknow. Debutantes Gangpur-Odisha, consisting of mainly tribal players, beat Maharashtra 3-2 to win the Division 'B' title. Both the finalists will get promoted to Division 'A' in the 2015 men's nationals, at the expense of the bottom two teams in Division 'A' who will face relegation to Division 'B'.

Division 'A' of the men's national hockey championship was held from March 11-23, 2014 at the Major Dhyan Chand stadium in the Guru Govind Singh Sports College in Lucknow.

If you want to know what is wrong with Indian hockey, just see how the national championship are conducted.

Scheduled at the same time as the national championship was a national camp to train the Indian team for the June World Cup in The Hague. As a result, all top players of India did not participate in the nationals.

The hardest hit was last year's runner-up Punjab, who were without 11 of their main players. Effectively, they sent their 'B' team, and expectedly, did not qualify for the semi-finals. Karnataka was without 5 of their main players, and they too did not qualify for the semi-finals.

Holding a national hockey championship without the top players of the country participating is either a major error in scheduling or lack of importance given to the national championship. Either way, the quality of play that was on display suffered.

In terms of infrastructure, the 41 teams that participated in the Division 'A' and 'B' national hockey championship were put up in a mosquito-infested accommodation within the Sports College. As a result, post-dinner team meetings were held under the blankets owing to fear of mosquitoes and the diseases they carry.

Each room could host an entire team of 16-18, but lacked ventilation. Not a single room had an attached toilet or washbasin.

Air India and Comptroller & Auditor General of India reached the final of the mosquito-infested men's national championship, with the following match results:

Stage	Date	Air India	Date	Comptroller & Auditor General
Pool	Mar 16	beat Chandigadh 3-0	Mar 14	beat Bharatiya Khel Praadhikaran (SAI) 5-1
	Mar 17	beat Services 3-0	Mar 16	beat Manipur 8-1
	Mar 19	beat Bharatiya Vishvavidyalaya Sangh (AIU) 7-2	Mar 17	beat Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy 7-0
	Mar 20	beat Andhra Pradesh 4-0	Mar 19	beat Punjab 3-1
Semi-finals	Mar 22	beat Uttar Pradesh 2-1	Mar 22	beat Bharatiya Rail 3-2
FINAL	Mar 23	beat Comptroller & Auditor General of India 4-1

In the final played on March 23, Gaganpreet Singh scores three penalty corner goals for Air India to lead the defending champion to a 4-1 victory over the Comptroller & Auditor General of India. Hosts Uttar Pradesh beats Railways 4-2 to take 3rd place.

The following were the tournament awards:

• Goalkeeper of the Tournament: Adrian d'Souza (Air India)
• Full-Back of the Tournament: Divakar Ram (Uttar Pradesh)
• Half-Back of the Tournament: M. B. Aiyappa (Comptroller & Auditor General Of India)
• Forward of the Tournament: Shivendra Singh (Air India)
• Player of the Tournament: Gagandeep Singh (Air India)

A Yamha Alfa motorbike was presented to the Player of the Tournament, Gagandeep Singh.

Vandana Katariya of Railways celebrates her second goal in the final, Photograph by A. M. Faruqui, courtesy The Hindu

he 4th Hockey India women's national hockey championship was held in two phases. Division 'B' comprised 16 teams that fared poorly in last year's championship, while Division 'A' comprised the top 15 teams in the country. Around 650 women hockey players took part in the nationals, across both the divisions. The nationals were organised by the Madhya Pradesh Khel aur Yuvak Kalyan Vibhag.

Division 'B' of the women's national hockey championship was held from March 13-19, 2014 at the Aishbagh Stadium and Major Dhyan Chand Sports Complex in Bhopal.

Assam beat Himachal Pradesh 3-2 to win the Division 'B' title. Both the finalists will get promoted to Division 'A' in the 2015 women's nationals, at the expense of the bottom two teams in Division 'A' who will face relegation to Division 'B'.

Division 'A' of the women's national hockey championship was held from March 18-23, 2014 at the Aishbagh Stadium and Major Dhyan Chand Sports Complex in Bhopal.

Railways and Hariyana reached the final of the women's national championship, for the 4th time in as many years, with the following match results:

Stage	Date	Railways	Date	Hariyana
Pool	Mar 19	beat Uttar Pradesh 20-0	Mar 18	beat Odisha 11-0
	Mar 20	beat Bihar 24-0	Mar 19	beat Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy 2-1
			Mar 20	beat Chattisgadh 13-0
Semi-finals	Mar 22	beat Punjab 11-1	Mar 22	beat Jharkhand 7-3
FINAL	Mar 23	beat Hariyana 4-0

With almost the entire national team at its service, Railways easily won the title, beating Hariyana 4-0 in the final. In the third place playoff, a dominant Jharkhand blanked Punjab 5-0.

The following were the tournament awards:

• Goalkeeper of the Tournament: Savita (Hariyana)
• Full-Back of the Tournament: Deepika (Bharatiya Rail)
• Forward of the Tournament: Poonam Barla (Jharkhand)
• Top Scorer of the Tournament: Navneet Kaur (Hariyana)
• Player of the Tournament: Monika (Hariyana)

Such is the dominance of Railways in Indian women's hockey, they scored 59 goals and conceded only 1 in 4 matches of the women's national championship.

Photograph courtesy Hockey India

he 4th Hockey India junior men's (u-19) national hockey championship was held in two phases. Division 'B' comprised 19 teams that fared poorly in last year's championship, while Division 'A' comprised the top 15 teams in the country.

Division 'B' of the junior men's national hockey championship was held from March 24-31, 2014 at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium and YMCA, Nandanam in Chennai.

Steel Plant Sports Board beat Manipur 5-1 to win the Division 'B' title. Both the finalists will get promoted to Division 'A' in the 2015 junior men's nationals, at the expense of the bottom two teams in Division 'A' who will face relegation to Division 'B'.

Division 'A' of the junior men's national hockey championship was held from March 29 - April 6, 2014 at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium and YMCA, Nandanam in Chennai.

Defending champion Punjab and runner up Odisha reached the final of the junior men's national championship, with the following match results:

Stage	Date	Punjab	Date	Odisha
Pool	Mar 31	beat Delhi 10-0	Mar 30	beat Karnataka 5-0
	Apr 2	beat Tamil Nadu 9-1	Apr 1	beat Himachal Pradesh 2-1
			Apr 3	beat Mumbai 4-0
Semi-finals	Apr 5	beat Hariyana 6-2	Apr 5	beat Bharatiya Khel Praadhikaran (SAI) 6-0
FINAL	Apr 6	beat Odisha 6-2

In the final played on April 6, Punjab beat Odisha 6-2 to claim the junior men's national title. In the match between the losing semi-finalists, Hariyana beat Bharatiya Khel Praadhikaran (SAI) 7-3 to finish third.

The following were the tournament awards:

• Goalkeeper of the Tournament: Jugraj Singh (Punjab)
• Full-Back of the Tournament: Neelam Sanjeev Xess (Odisha)
• Midfielder of the Tournament: Sumeet (Hariyana)
• Forward of the Tournament: Joseph Toppo (Odisha)
• Player of the Tournament: Harjeet Singh (Punjab)

Odisha has been a finalist in all 4 Hockey India junior men's nationals, and has lost all of the finals. The last 3 finals have been played between Punjab and Odisha, with Punjab winning all 3 finals (Punjab beat Odisha 4-3 in 2012, 2-1 in 2013 and 6-2 in 2014) to claim a hat trick of junior national hockey titles.

A very happy Punjab coach Avtar Singh said, "It has taken 8 years of hard work to reach this point. A comprehensive plan for Punjab hockey was put together in 2006, when Pargat Singh was the Director of Sports. And the results are showing now. Besides, we have eight turfs in Punjab - two in Jalandhar and Patiala (SAI), and one each in Ludhiana, Amristar, Chandigadh and Mohali, and that helps."

The victorious Hariyana junior women's team, Photograph by M. A. Sriram, courtesy The Hindu

he 4th Hockey India junior women's (u-19) national hockey championship was held in two phases. Division 'B' comprised 13 teams that fared poorly in last year's championship, while Division 'A' comprised the top 16 teams in the country.

Division 'B' of the junior women's national hockey championship was held from March 5-13, 2014 at the Chamundi Vihar Astroturf Hockey Ground in Mysore.

Chattisgadh beat Kerala 6-1 to win the Division 'B' title. Both the finalists will get promoted to Division 'A' in the 2015 junior women's nationals, at the expense of the bottom two teams in Division 'A' who will face relegation to Division 'B'.

Division 'A' of the junior women's national hockey championship was held from March 15-23, 2014 at the Chamundi Vihar Astroturf Hockey Ground in Mysore.

Defending champion Hariyana and runner up Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy reached the final of the junior women's national championship, with the following match results:

Stage	Date	Hariyana	Date	Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy
Pool	Mar 15	beat Bharatiya Khel Praadhikaran (SAI) 6-0	Mar 18	beat Karnataka 8-1
	Mar 16	beat Tamil Nadu 14-0	Mar 19	beat Delhi 5-0
	Mar 17	beat Rajasthan 14-0	Mar 20	beat Bhopal 4-0
Semi-finals	Mar 22	beat Jharkhand 10-1	Mar 22	beat Odisha 3-2
FINAL	Mar 23	beat Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy 2-0

In the final played on April X, Hariyana beat Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy 2-0 to claim the junior women's national title. In the match between the losing semi-finalists, Jharkhand beat Odisha 3-1 (via penalty shootout), after being tied 0-0 at full-time, to finish third.

The following were the tournament awards:

• Goalkeeper of the Tournament: Nisha (Karnataka)
• Full-Back of the Tournament: Rashmita Minz (Odisha)
• Midfielder of the Tournament: Rajini Soreng (Jharkhand)
• Forward of the Tournament: Priyanka Wankhede (Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy)
• Player of the Tournament: Jyoti Gupta (Hariyana)

This is the third time in a row that Hariyana has won the Junior Women's National Championship.

he Photograph of the Month for April 2014 is of the 2014 Kodava Hockey Festival, being organised by the Thathanda family.

This is the 18th edition of the unique family hockey festival. The inauguration of the Thathanda Hockey Namme is on Sunday, 20th April, 2014 at the Junior College ground in Virajpet, Kodagu. It is a 25-day festival, with 250+ teams playing for the trophy.

The rules of the festival regarding team composition are that all the team members must belong to the same family (surname). Teams can be of mixed gender, and women players have the choice of representing their birth family or their married family. There is no minimum or maximum age limit, and it is a wonderful sight to see players of all ages come together to play hockey.

The winning team will get a cash award of 1 lakh, and the runner-up will get 50,000.

here is a new public sector organisation that is recruiting hockey players in India - Bharat ke Niyantrak (Comptroller) evam Maha Lekhaparikshak (Auditor General), also known as Comptroller & Auditor General of India (CAGI).

In its very first year, CAGI recruited over 50 hockey players of various age groups, from different parts of the country. The coach of the team was former India coach Harendra Singh.

CAGI made a sensational debut in the 2014 Division A national hockey championship, reaching the final on its first attempt.

Says Harendra Singh, "Looking at the dwindling job opportunities in hockey, I think CAGI has recruited a very good number of players."

CAGI thus joins companies like Air India, Railways and various Oil companies that recruit hockey players full-time.

There is another approach being followed by public sector companies like Bharatiya Khadya Nigam, also known as Food Corporation of India (FCI) - the paying of stipend to players for the purpose of representing the company in tournaments.

FCI hockey coach Pranam Singh said: "We recruited only six players in our opening season, with the rest being on stipend. We want to see how things work out before recruiting more players. I am hopeful that in the coming years all our players will be on the payroll of the company."

Hockey India has done its bit and offered companies like CAGI and FCI that recruit hockey players, a spot in Division A at the nationals.

In addition, Hockey India gives its State members an annual grant of 8 lakh, Associate (non-institutional) Members 3 lakh, and all other members 2 lakh per annum.

he latest rule change from the FIH has the potential to be a game changer for televised hockey. The new format, which comes into effect from September 1, 2014, is as shown below:

• Each hockey match will be a 60-minute game, split into four 15-minute quarters.
• After the first quarter, there will be a 120-second break.
• After the third quarter, there will be a 120-second break.
• After every penalty corner is awarded, there will be a 40-second timeout.
• After every goal is scored, there will be a 40-second timeout.
• The existing 10-minute half-time will remain unchanged.

Take an average scenario where a hockey game has 5 goals scored and 15 penalty corners awarded. That comes to 20 game stoppages over the duration of the match, resulting in a total of 800 seconds of additional time for advertisers.

The right thing to do is to keep the format of the hockey game as two halves of 35 minutes each, and introduce the 40-second timeouts for penalty corners and goals as is being proposed.

Hockey should follow the football model of continuous action of two-halves, not the 4-quarter model of basketball. Do not slow down the game of hockey, one of the fastest games on the planet.

he April 2014 Visitor of the Month is Anil Verma, who sent the following to BharatiyaHockey.org.

This is a very rare picture from March 1939 of German hockey players doing the Nazi Salute, shouting Heil Hitler three times, before playing with the Hitchin Boys' Grammar School First XI hockey team. The German team won the match 4-1.

Statistics by B. G. Joshi

he April 2014 edition of Fun with Numbers is on India's goal scorers in the Men's World Cup Hockey.

In the 12 editions of the Men's World Cup that have been held thus far:

• Only 2 Indians have scored 10 or more goals in the Men's World Cup - Rajinder Singh and Surjeet Singh. They played more than 3 decades ago
• Only 2 Indians have participated in 4 Men's World Cups - Ashok Kumar (1971, 73, 75, 78) and Dhanraj Pillai (1990, 94, 98, 2002)
• Only 1 Indian has top-scored in a Men's World Cup - Rajinder Singh (12 goals, all PCs, all in the 1982 World Cup in Mumbai)

The list of Indians who have scored 5 or more goals in the 12 editions of the Men's World Cup Hockey held thus far is given below.

Rank	Player	World Cups Played	FG	PC	PS	Total
1	Rajinder Singh	1 (1982)	-	12	-	12
2	Surjeet Singh	3 (1973, 75, 82)	-	11	-	11
3	Surinder Singh Sodhi	2 (1978, 82)	6	-	2	8
4	Mukesh Kumar	2 (1994, 98)	5	2	-	7
	Shivendra Singh	2 (2006, 10)	5	2	-	7
5	V. J. Philips	3 (1973, 75, 78)	2	-	4	6
	Dhanraj Pillai	4 (1990, 94, 98, 2002)	5	1	-	6
6	B. P. Govinda	2 (1973, 75)	4	-	1	5

The upcoming 13th edition of the Men's World Cup will be held in The Hague, Netherlands, from 31st May to 15th June, 2014. It is has been 4 decades since India has won any medal in the Men's World Cup hockey - 2 generations of Indians have grown up without knowing what it is to win a World Cup medal.