Article by Mihir Vasavda courtesy Indian Express

here have always been whispers in Indian hockey circles about a Punjab clique and how it divided the team in factions, both on and off the field. Those allegations now figure in official reports submitted to Hockey India

The reports submitted by former coach Michael Nobbs, examined by The Indian Express, say that the main reason for India's worst-ever performance at an Olympics (last place in London 2012), was their failure to play as a team.

Nobbs and the then physiotherapist David John stated in their reports that "a group of players from Punjab were more focused on themselves than the team, with the ringleaders being Gurbaj Singh, Rajpal Singh and Sarvanjeet Singh."

When contacted, Nobbs confirmed the authenticity of the report but did not wish to comment on it further, stating, "I have said this earlier as well, that there are players in the Indian team who play not for the country but just to get the tag of being an Olympian."

There are even suggestions in the reports that there were plans to injure a player so that Sarvanjeet Singh, who was a standby in the Olympic squad, could be a part of the main team.

Michael Nobss said, "Sarvanjeet came to us and said that we are going to have an injury and that Manpreet Singh is going to cut his hand so that he (Sarvanjeet) could play. This is a violation of the Olympic Code of Ethics," Nobbs wrote in his report to Hockey India.

Nobbs added in his report: "Gurbaj Singh and Sarvanjeet were the ringleaders, and had started to influence Manpreet Singh's and Dharamveer Singh's performances."

Interestingly, Manpreet was not the only player who was approached by Sarvanjeet. In an unnamed testimony, a certain 'Athlete B' said, "I got news that Sarvanjeet Singh told Gurvinder Singh Chandi to injure his finger so that he will get chance to play in the Olympics. It is not good for the team."

Another unnamed player, 'Athlete A', said in his report, "Gurbaj, Chandi and Sarvanjeet became a group of their own, and were very negative in their remarks after each match. They would laugh at the players after losing, as if they were not a part of the team."

Taking strict action against the players, Hockey India had suspended Gurbaj Singh for more than a year following the London Olympics and sidelined Sarvanjeet Singh.

The 27-year-old right-half Gurbaj returned to the Indian side in 2014 after tendering a written apology, but found himself in the dock again.

In his report to Hockey India after the 2015 Hockey World League semifinals, Jude Felix blamed Gurbaj Singh for creating rifts within the team and accused him of groupism. The federation consequently suspended him for nine months, virtually ending the right-half's 2016 Rio Olympics ambitions.

Hockey India president Narinder Batra said. "Everything that happened at the 2012 London Olympics has been documented and is with me. I could have made it public, but I do not divulge team reports as these are our internal issues. Post London Olympics till date, we have not allowed groupism to happen. If we get a feeling that something's wrong, we check it immediately. In the last three years, the Indian team has been playing as one."

Statistics by B. G. Joshi

he minimum representation for Asia in the Olympic men's hockey tournament is 1. In Amsterdam (1928), Moscow (1980) and the upcoming Rio de Janeiro (2016), India was/will be the sole country to represent Asia in Olympic men's hockey. Interestingly, on both those previous occasions - 1928 and 1980 - India won the Olympic gold in hockey.

The maximum representation for Asia in the Olympic men's hockey tournament is 5. In the 1956 Olympic hockey tournament, the Asian representatives were India, Pakistan, Malaya, Singapore and Afghanistan. In the 1964 Olympic hockey tournament, the Asian representatives were India, Pakistan, Malaysia, Japan and Hong Kong. Again, on both those occasions, India won the Olympic gold in hockey.

The 1956 Olympics were the first time that all 5 continental regions (Africa, Asia, Europe, Oceania, Pan America) were represented in hockey, making it a truly global competition.

The 1956 Olympics was also the first time that Asia had more countries (5) than Europe (3 - Germany, Britain, Belgium) in the Olympic hockey competition. Back in the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics, Asia had 2 representatives (India and Japan), while Europe had 0. This happened because European countries opted to stay away from the 1932 Olympic hockey competition.

The 1968 Mexico City Olympics also marked the only instance when two partitioned countries bearing the same name - West Germany (FRG) and East Germany (GDR) - both participated in the Olympic hockey competition. West Germany finished 4th and East Germany 11th.

The continent of Africa has participated in 13 Olympic men's hockey tournaments, but has not won a single Olympic medal in hockey - whether gold, silver or bronze.

The continental region of Pan America (North and South America) has never been to any Olympic men's hockey final. The only Olympic hockey medal won by Pan America was bronze at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics, when only 3 countries participated.

In the 22 Olympic men's hockey competitions held so far (from London 1908 to London 2012), the Olympic gold, silver and bronze medal winners by continent are shown in the table below:

Continent	Appearances	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Asia	20	11	6	4
Europe	21	9	13	13*
Oceania	14	2	3	5
America	17	0	0	1
Africa	13	0	0	0
TOTAL	22	22	22	23*

*Both Wales and Scotland were awarded bronze medals in the inaugural Olympic hockey competition in London in 1908. That explains the discrepancy of 23 bronze medals in 22 Olympic hockey competitions.

Article and Photograph courtesy The Hindu

or the 60-odd young hockey players from Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh, the annual visit by the Spanish hockey team from Barcelona is a God-sent boon as they get taught the European style of hockey.

The eight-member team, including two women players - Noelia Lopez and Francina Bel - is travelling the length and breadth of the district to promote and teach new tricks of the game to the youngsters.

"Thanks to the Rural Development Trust (RDT), a non-governmental organisation, sports and games are looking up in Anantapur. The RDT management regularly fetches experts from Spain, a country, which is passionately involved with the RDT, in games like football, hockey and tennis. Former world No. 1 tennis player Rafeal Nadal came in 2010 to inaugurate his tennis academy at the RDT premises," says Mr. Yugandhar Reddy, a volunteer.

RDT has a hockey academy for boys and one for girls, with an intake of 25 children each. The boys academy won the u-14 Andhra Pradesh School Games held in Anantapur in November 2013, and were runners up in the u-17 Andhra Pradesh School Games held in Adilabad in October 2013. There are 25 high schools to which hockey materials are provided by RDT.

Article courtesy Hindustan Times

he poor showing of the Indian men's hockey team at the 1998 World Cup prompted Jagroop Singh Jarkhar to open a hockey academy in his village of Jarkhar in Dehlon tehsil in Ludhiana district of Punjab. Financial help came from Jagroop's NRI friends, and the Mata Sahib Kaur Hockey Academy opened in Jarkhar in 2006.

Till date, 69 academy trainees have taken part in school nationals, and 20 have got government jobs under the sports quota. In 2014, the academy trainees comprised half of Punjab's under-19 team, which went on to win silver at the National School Games.

"Being a freelance sports journalist, I got an opportunity to witness the 1998 World Cup, but the country's poor performance disturbed me to such an extent that I decided to open a hockey academy. An academy requires a playing field, hostel accommodation and a regular flow of money for operational expenses, so it took me time to make arrangements," recalled Jagroop. "The most satisfying moment was when our trainees got jobs. Most of them are from humble backgrounds, and government jobs will improve their financial condition."

The stadium has a six-a-side floodlit artificial turf field, a 32-room hostel. All the hostel rooms were fit with air conditioners this year. The club has the support of around 15 NRI families in the US and Australia, along with some local contributors. The annual budget of the academy is 20 lakh.

"It was a challenge to build the stadium without government support, but with the help of NRIs we pulled it off. Till date, we have spent around 4 crore. Drugs are a menace in Punjab and sport has helped youngsters of the village to stay away from this curse," said Jagroop Singh.

In August 2014, Hockey India inducted the Mata Sahib Kaur Hockey Academy as its 7th Academy Member, joining Academy members like the Madya Pradesh Hockey Academy, the Namdhari Sports Academy and others.

Photograph courtesy Asian Hockey Federation

he 7th Junior Women's Asia Cup was held from September 5-13, 2015 in Changzhou, China. Only the top 3 teams of this tournament will qualify from Asia for the 2016 Junior Women's World Cup which will be held in Santiago, Chile.

The 9 participating teams were grouped into two pools as follows:

Pool A: China, India, Malaysia, North Korea, Singapore
Pool B: Chinese Taipei, Japan, South Korea, Thailand

India, who were bronze medallists in the Jr. Women's World Cup, lost to China, lost to Japan and lost to South Korea in the Jr. Women's Asia Cup to finish 4th.

Indian junior women came into the tournament as 3rd in the world, but left the tournament as 4th in Asia! Since it did not finish among the top 3, India will not be participating in the 2016 Jr. Women's World Cup.

India's match results were as shown below:

Stage	Date	Result	Goal Scorers (India)
Pool	Sep 5	India 13 - North Korea 0	Preeti Dubey (11 min) + 1 goal Jaspreet Kaur (20 min), PC Navneet Kaur (24 min) + 1 goal Rani Rampal (28, 43, 44, 46 min) + 1 goal Mayengbam Lily Chanu (31 min) Poonam Barla Leelima Minz (51 min)
	Sep 6	India 12 - Singapore 0	Poonam Barla (6 min) Anupa Barla (10 min) + 1 Preeti Dubey (15 min) + 1 Jaspreet Kaur (25 min), PC Mayengbam Lily Chanu (49 min), PC + 1 Gurjeet Kaur (52 min) Leelima Minz (59 min) Navneet Kaur Deep Grace Ekka
	Sep 9	China 4 - India 2	Jaspreet Kaur (33 min), PC Gurjeet Kaur (56 min), PC
	Sep 10	India 9 - Malaysia 1	Rani Rampal (8 min) + 2 Jaspreet Kaur (15, 60 min), both PCs Preeti Dubey (24 min), PC Deep Grace Ekka Navneet Kaur Poonam Barla (51 min)
Semis	Sep 12	Japan 2 - India 2 (3-2 SO)	Deep Grace Ekka (4 min), PC Renuka Yadav (25 min)
FINAL	Sep 13	South Korea 3 - India 2	Namita Toppo Leelima Minz (38 min), PC

The final standings were as follows: 1 - China, 2 - Japan, 3 - South Korea, 4 - India, 5 - Malaysia, 6 - Thailand, 7 - North Korea, 8 - Singapore, 9 - Chinese Taipei

Gu Bingfeng of China was the top scorer of the tournament, with 11 goals.

The Indian team for the Jr. Women's Asia Cup was as follows:

Goalkeepers: Inderpreet Kaur, Shveta

Defenders: Deep Grace Ekka, Namita Toppo, Gurjeet Kaur, Jaspreet Kaur, Manjeet Kaur, Rashmita Minz

Midfielders: Mayengbam Lily Chanu, Leelima Minz, Navjyot Kaur (vice captain), Renuka Yadav, Preeti Dubey

Forwards: Rani Rampal (captain), Anupa Barla, Poonam Barla, Navneet Kaur, Sonika

Officials: Chief Coach - Narendra Singh Saini, Assistant Coach - Baljeet Singh Saini, Manager - Mathias Ahrens, Stand-in Manager - Helen Mary

The Air India Sports Promotion Board

he Photograph of the Month for October 2015 is of Air India Sports Promotion Board, which organised the All India Public Sector hockey tournament in Delhi earlier this year.

There are close to 40 members of the All India Public Sector Sports Promotion Board, spanning multiple sectors, as listed below:

• Airlines: Air India, Airport Authority of India, Pawan Hans Helicopters
• Banks: Andhra Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, Reserve Bank of India, State Bank of Patiala, State Bank of Travancore
• Food: Bharatiya Khadya Nigam (FCI)
• Industry: Bharat Electronics, Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd., Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers, Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers, Steel Authority of India
• Infrastructure: Bharat Earth Movers Ltd., Housing and Urban Development Corporation, Central Warehousing Corporation
• Insurance: LIC, New India Assurance, Oriental Insurance, Employees Provident Fund Organisation, Employees State Insurance Corporation
• Minerals: Coal India, Metals and Minerals Trading Corporation, National Aluminium Company, National Mineral Development Corporation, Neyveli Lignite
• Oil & Gas: Bharat Petroleum, Gas Authority of India Ltd., ONGC, Hindustan Petroleum, Indian Oil, Oil India Ltd., Petronet LNG
• Power: National Thermal Power Corporation, Sutluj Jal Vidyut Nigam
• Telecommunications: Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd., Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd.

The aim of Public Sector Sports Promotion Boards is: "To promote, aid, assist and organise sports, all kinds of indoor and outdoor games and cultural activities in the Public Sector Undertakings, with a view to promoting the health, welfare and recreation of their employees and their families".

2015 Hockey India League Auction Infographic courtesy The Tribune

ockey India organised the auction of players for the 2016 season of the Hockey India League (HIL) at the Hotel Lalit in Delhi on 17th September, 2015.

At $1,05,000, Moritz Fuerste received the highest ever bid in the 4-year history of the HIL auctions, beating last year's record of $1,03,000 that was received for Tom Boon.

The list of players who received a bid more than $50,000 in the HIL auction is shown in the table below:

Team	Player	Country	Position	Price
Dabang Mumbai	Florian Fuchs	Germany	Forward	$96,000
	Gurmail Singh	India	Defender	$81,000
	Mathew Swann	Australia	Midfielder	$75,000
	Nikkin Thimmaiah	India	Forward	$67,000
	Danish Mujtaba	India	Midfielder	$54,000
	Affan Yousuf	India	Forward	$53,000
Uttar Pradesh Wizards	Tobias Hauke	Germany	Midfielder	$96,000
	Akashdeep Singh	India	Forward	$84,000
	Chinglensana Singh	India	Midfielder	$62,000
	Jamie Dwyer	Australia	Forward	$57,000
Delhi Waveriders	Mandeep Singh	India	Forward	$70,000
	Rupinderpal Singh	India	Defender	$68,000
	Austin Smith	South Africa	Midfielder	$59,000
	Vikram Kanth	India	Defender	$52,000
	Simon Child	New Zealand	Forward	$50,000
Ranchi Rays	Sandeep Singh	India	Defender	$81,000
	Fergus Kavanagh	Australia	Defender	$60,000
	Birendra Lakra	India	Defender	$55,000
Kalinga Lancers	Moritz Fuerste	Germany	Midfielder	$1,05,000
	Dharamveer Singh	India	Midfielder	$60,000
	S. K. Uthappa	India	Midfielder	$54,000
Jaypee Punjab Warriors	Gurvinder Singh Chandi	India	Forward	$75,000
	Mark Gohdes	Australia	Forward	$71,000
	Mark Knowles	Australia	Defender	$65,000
	Jasjeet Singh Kular	India	Defender	$65,000
	Sardar Singh	India	Midfielder	$58,000
	Simon Orchard	New Zealand	Midfielder	$58,000

World-renowned auctioneer Bob Hayton conducted the 2015 HIL auction. He had also conducted the inaugural HIL auction in 2012.

Graphic courtesy International Hockey Federation

he Hero Men's Hockey World League Final will be played in Raipur, Chattisgadh, India, from 27th November to 6th December, 2015. This will be the first international hockey event to be held in the city of Raipur.

The 8 countries that will be participating in the Men's Hockey World League Final are world no. 1 - Australia, 2 - Netherlands, 3 - Germany, 4 - Belgium, 5 - Great Britain (England), 6 - Argentina, 8 - India and 13 - Canada.

The list of broadcasters for the Hockey World League Final is shown in the table below. With barely 2 months to go for the final, 5 of the 8 participating countries do not have television coverage of the event.

Continent	Country	Broadcaster	Live Coverage
Africa	Northern Africa	ONS	TBD
	South Africa	Supersport	TBD
America	Argentina	Canal Siete	All Argentina matches, Semi-finals, Final
	USA	Willow TV	TBD
Asia	India	Star Sports	All Matches Live
	Malaysia	Astro	TBD
	Pakistan	PTV	TBD
	United Arab Emirates	ONS	TBD
Europe	Netherlands	NOS	All Netherlands matches, Semi-finals, Final

The continent of Oceania, home of world no. 1 men's team Australia is missing from the above list. It is hoped that by the time the tournament starts, there will be live/tape delayed coverage in Australia and New Zealand.

The Corps of Signals, Indian Army

he October 2015 Visitor of the Month is Justin Coward, who sent the following mail to BharatiyaHockey.org.

My name is Justin Coward. 10 years ago, I played for the Corps of Signals in the Beighton Cup. I was hoping to find pictures or information about my team in the 2005 edition of the Beighton Cup. I was the goalkeeper of the team.

There were 3 Army teams in the 110th Beighton Cup Hockey Tournament - Corps of Signals, Seema Suraksha Bal (Border Security Force) and Sthal Sena (Army).

The final of the 2005 Beighton Cup was played on April 13. Border Security Force beat Army 2-1 to win the tournament.

Statistics by B. G. Joshi

he October 2015 edition of Fun with Numbers is on India's world class striker Rani Rampal.

Rani Rampal was born on December 4, 1994. Her hometown is Shahabad, near Kurukshetra, Hariyana.

She played for India directly at the senior level, before playing at the junior level. When Rani made her international debut on April 19, 2008 in the Kazan Olympic Qualifier versus Russia, she was 13 years, 4 months and 15 days. Rani scored a goal on debut, and India won on her debut, beating Russia 3-1.

As of October 1, 2015, Rani Rampal has 140 caps and 90 goals in senior internationals for India.

Rani's record in FIH and continental tournaments, at both the junior and senior level, is shown in the table below:

	Category	Year	Venue	Tournament	Matches Played	Goals Scoredd
	Key Jr. Tournaments	Aug 2009	Boston	Jr. World Cup	7	7
		Jul/Aug 2013	Monchengladbach (GER)	Jr. World Cup	6	4
		Sep 2015	Changzhou	Jr. Asia Cup	6	7
	Key Sr. Tournaments	Apr 2008	Kazan (RUS)	Olympic Qualifier	6	5
		Jun 2009	Kazan (RUS)	Champions Challenge II	5	8
		Oct/Nov 2009	Bangkok	Asia Cup	6	9
		Jul 2010	Busan (KOR)	Asian Champions Trophy	4	1
		Aug/Sep 2010	Rosario (ARG)	World Cup	6	7
		Oct 2010	Delhi	Commonwealth Games	5	3
		Nov 2010	Guangzhou	Asian Games	7	7
		Jun 2011	Dublin	Champions Challenge I	6	1
		Sep 2011	Ordos (CHN)	Asian Champions Trophy	4	1
		Feb 2012	Delhi	Olympic Qualifier	6	2
		Sep 2013	Kuala Lumpur	Asia Cup	5	8
		Nov 2013	Kakagamihara	Asian Champions Trophy	4	0
		Jul/Aug 2014	Glasgow	Commonwealth Games	5	5
		Mar 2015	Delhi	Hockey World League Rd 2	5	7
		Jun/Jul 2015	Antwerp	Hockey World League Rd 3	7	4

Rani is presently employed as an assistant coach by the Sports Authority of India.