Portable-Pitch Big-Stadium Hockey Makes Its Debut In England |

Photograph credit The Hockey Paper
he
sport of hockey took a big step towards its objective of attracting
larger audiences when England Hockey debuted a synthetic turf
pitch installed in a larger capacity rugby stadium for an international
hockey match. What is unique about the turf pitch is that it is
temporary, removable and repeatable.
An FIH Pro League double header was played on 23rd June, 2019 at the
15,000-seater Twickenham Stoop, home of the Harlequins rugby team. This
was the largest attendance for a hockey match in the United Kingdom
since the 2012 London Olympic Games.
It is not the first time that a non-hockey specific stadium has been
used. The 1978 and 1981 Indo-Pak hockey series were held in cricket
stadiums in Mumbai and Lahore, and football stadiums in Kolkata and
Bengaluru. But those were natural grass grounds. The Netherlands staged
both the 1998 and 2014 Hockey World Cup tournaments in existing football
stadiums, and though the turf was synthetic, the installations were not portable.
The innovation that has been introduced is that a synthetic hockey
turf can be installed, played on and removed, all within a short
timeframe. The surface installed at The Stoop was a version of Polytan's Poligras Tokyo
GT, the turf system that will be used at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
The reusable surface was constructed from sugarcane, and requires 65
percent less water than the surfaces used at previous Olympics.
Also involved in the laying of the portable pitch were STRI Group for
design consultancy, and Polypipe, who
developed the Permavoid system to keep the underlying grass
alive and growing over the period of use of the synthetic turf. A video
of the Permavoid installation at The Stoop can be seen here -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9pQLQXKuYI/.
In theory, we could have a scenario where a stadium hosts a
non-hockey match one weekend, followed by a hockey match the following
weekend, in an endlessly repeating loop. This could extend a stadium's
usage from single-sport to a multiple sports, and allow for year-long
hosting of matches. During off-season for football and rugby, for
example, turf pitches could literally be dropped onto these stadiums for
international hockey matches.
FIH Facilities & Programme Manager Alastair Cox said, "If we can make
this work, it suddenly means that hockey can be played in any venue
anywhere in the world. If hockey wants to engage with the broader
audience, we have to make it as an attractive, appealing and enjoyable
experience as possible."
"This will not just be game changing for us, but for hockey around
the world," said Sally Munday, chief executive of England Hockey. "From
a hockey perspective, what this allows us to do is simply go into an
existing purpose-built stadium and drop a pitch. If we can get the
technology to work the way we want it to, there will be the opportunity
to go to other locations around the country."
Hockey's exponential growth in the United Kingdom has seen youth
participation grow by 80% since London 2012. Over 110,000 tickets were
sold for the 2018 Women's World Cup. The number of fans who have paid to see the sport of
hockey in UK since 2012 has surpassed one million.
This is a phenomenal increase in the profile of hockey in the UK, and
portable-pitch, big-stadium hockey will only increase the spectating
component of hockey's fan base in the years ahead.
|
Odisha Has Become The Sports Event Hosting Capital Of India |

Photograph of the 2018 Men's Hockey World Cup captains
with Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik By Dr.
Jitendra Nath Misra, ex Ambassador of India to Portugal and Laos.
Article courtesy Firstpost
here is
one area where the Odisha government has got it right - the creation of world-class
sporting infrastructure as a springboard for transformation.
The Hockey Series Finals hosted in Bhubanesvar almost became a victim of
Cyclone Fani. But that didn't happen. Odisha's Sports Secretary Vishal Dev says,
"The Hockey Series Finals was to show the world the resilience of Odisha and
its people, and that we honoured our commitment to host the event in a
befitting manner."
The accumulated experience of hosting sporting events, too, helped.
Dev says the organisation of the 2017 Asian Athletics Championships in
90 days gave invaluable insights into meeting tight deadlines, and a
similar drill was repeated for the Hockey Series Finals.
In Bhubanesvar, I see no banners or decorations, just a functional order.
There is no celebratory feeling, as we saw at the World Cup in December.
Just doing the event in adversity is the statement.
More broadly, Odisha is trying to put in place events, infrastructure,
rewards and interventions to realise its sporting aspirations. Bhubanesvar
stole a march over rivals by hosting FIH's three elite men's tournaments -
2014 Champions Trophy, 2017 Hockey World League Final and the 2018 Hockey
World Cup, apart from the 2019 Hockey Series Finals.
Beyond hockey, Bhubanesvar's CV for 2018 alone read ITF Tennis Super Cup,
Asian Women's u-17 Rugby Championships, National Athletics Championships
and an ISL game.
Unless there are facilities to train, sporting events can turn into
legacies that fade away. More sustainable is drawing in elite athletes
to train. With the involvement of Abhinav Bindra, Pullela Gopichand,
Anil Kumble, and Gagan Narang, high-performance centres have been established
in Athletics, Swimming, Shooting, Football, Hockey and Badminton.
Odisha has 16 sports hostels with 1,250 athletes, covering 12 disciplines,
with focus on football and hockey. The Odisha-SAI Regional Badminton Academy
was established in 2017. 17 synthetic hockey pitches will be installed in Sundargarh.
At the inauguration of the High-Performance Centres in February, I heard paeans.
- "If there was ease of work for any sport in the country, Odisha would be number one," said Gopichand.
- "All athletes thank you (the chief minister) for making Odisha the number one sporting state in India," went Kumble.
- Col. H. S. Chauhan, president of the Indian Mountaineering Foundation, said Bhubanesvar had one of the best sports climbing centres in India.
Odisha Mining Corporation has sponsored the Indian men's and women's
hockey teams for five years. The state of Odisha was the title sponsor of
the 2018 World Cup. Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation
and Mahanadi Coalfield sponsored the Hockey India franchise, Kalinga Lancers.
According to official figures, cash awards worth ₹8.83 crores have been
disbursed to 1,116 athletes, and equipment worth ₹2.17 crores have been
purchased in the last four years. 62 athletes have been appointed to the Odisha Police
and state corporations like OHPC and Odisha Mining Corporation.
Creating an international quality sports hub has given Odisha a chance to lead,
and a role model for other states in India to emulate.
|
India Beat South Africa To Win Men's FIH Series Finals In Bhubanesvar |

Photograph courtesy Odisha Sports
he
Men's FIH Series Finals was played from June 6-15, 2019 at the Kalinga
Stadium in Bhubanesvar. The importance of this event was that the top two teams will secure a
place in the final stage of the Olympic Qualifiers, to be held later in the year.
The following teams participated in the tournament:
- Pool A: India (world no. 5), Poland (no. 21), Russia (no. 22), Uzbekistan (no. 43)
- Pool B: South Africa (no. 16), Japan (no. 18), United States (no. 25), Mexico (no. 39)
India won all its matches and claimed the title, thereby keeping its
Olympic qualification hopes alive. The updated world rankings will be
released by the FIH on 8th September, 2019, after which India will know
its opponent in the two-match playoff to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo
Olympics.
India had the following match results in the Men's FIH Series Finals:
Stage |
Date |
Result |
Goal Scorers - India |
Pool |
Jun 6 |
India 10 - Russia 0 |
Neelakantha Sharma (13 min) Simranjeet Singh
(19 min) Amit Rohidas (20 min), PC Harmanpreet Singh (32,
48 min), both PCs Varun Kumar (34 min), PC Gursahibjeet Singh (37
min) Akashdeep Singh (42, 56 min) Vivek Sagar Prasad (45
min) |
|
Jun 7 |
India 3 - Poland 1 |
Manpreet Singh (21 min-PC, 26 min)
Harmanpreet Singh (36 min), PC |
|
Jun 10 |
India 10 - Uzbekistan 0 |
Varun Kumar (4 min-PC, 22 min) Akashdeep
Singh (11 min-PC, 26, 53 min) Amit Rohidas (15 min), PC Neelakantha Sharma (27 min), PC Mandeep Singh (30, 60 min)
Gursahibjeet Singh (45 min) |
Semi-final |
Jun 14 |
India 7 - Japan 2 |
Harmanpreet Singh (7
min), PC Varun Kumar (14 min), PC Ramandeep Singh (23 min,
37 min-PC) Hardeek Singh (25 min) Gursahibjeet Singh (43
min) Vivek Sagar Prasad (47 min) |
Final |
Jun 15 |
India 5 - South Africa 1 |
Varun Kumar (2, 49 min), both PCs Harmanpreet Singh (11 min-PC, 25 min-PS) Vivek Sagar Prasad
(35 min) |
The following were the tournament awards:
- Player of the Tournament: Manpreet Singh (IND)
- Junior Player of the Tournament: Vivek Sagar Prasad (IND)
- Goalkeeper of the Tournament: Jonathan Klages (USA)
- Top Goal Scorer: Harmanpreet Singh (IND), Varun Kumar (IND), Semen Matkovskiy (RUS), 6 goals each
- Fairplay Award: India
The final standings were as follows: 1 - India, 2 - South Africa, 3 -
Japan, 4 - USA, 5 - Russia, 6 - Poland, 7 - Mexico, 8 - Uzbekistan
Due to severe heat wave conditions in Bhubanesvar, the FIH had to
implement its warm weather policy for 7th vs. 8th playoff match
(quarter-break is extended to 4 minutes instead of 2, and an additional
1-minute break in the middle of the 3rd and 4th quarters). In the past,
the warm weather policy was applied at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio as well.
The Indian team for the Men's FIH Series Finals was as follows:
Goalkeepers: P. R. Sreejesh, Krishan B. Pathak
Defenders: Harmanpreet Singh, Birendra Lakra (vice-captain), Surender Kumar,
Varun Kumar, Amit Rohidas, Gurinder Singh
Midfielders: Manpreet Singh (captain), Hardeek Singh, Vivek
Sagar Prasad, Sumit, Neelakantha Sharma
Forwards: Mandeep Singh, Akashdeep Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Gursahibjeet Singh,
Simranjeet Singh
Officials: Graham Reid (chief coach), Chris Ciriello (manager)
|
India Beat Japan To Win Women's FIH Series Finals In Hiroshima |

Photograph courtesy Hockey India
he
Women's FIH Series Finals was played from June 15-23, 2019 in Hiroshima. The
importance of this event was that the top two teams will secure a place
in the final stage of the Olympic Qualifiers, to be held later in the
year. The winner of the tournament would also get 500 valuable ranking points.
The following teams participated in the tournament:
- Pool A: India (world no. 9), Poland (no. 23), Uruguay (no. 24), Fiji (no. 44)
- Pool B: Japan (no. 14), Chile (no. 16), Russia (no. 25), Mexico (no. 29)
India won all its matches and claimed the title, thereby keeping its
Olympic qualification hopes alive.
India went down from world no. 9 to world no. 10 as Belgium, who
finished 5th in the Women's Hockey Pro League leapfrogged over India to
occupy the no. 9 place. The next world rankings will be released by the
FIH on 8th September, 2019, after which India will know its opponent in
the two-match playoff to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics
India had the following match results in the Women's FIH Series Finals:
Stage |
Date |
Result |
Goal Scorers - India |
Pool |
June 15 |
India 4 - Uruguay 1 |
Rani Rampal (10 min) Gurjeet Kaur (21 min),
PC Jyoti (40 min) Lalremsiami (56 min) |
|
June 16 |
India 5 - Poland 0 |
Jyoti (21 min) Vandana Katariya (26 min), PC
Gurjeet Kaur (28 min-PC, 35 min-PS) Navneet Kaur (56 min) |
|
June 18 |
India 11 - Fiji 0 |
Lalremsiami (4 min) Rani Rampal (10 min)
Monika (11 min, 33 min-PC) Vandana Katariya (12 min) Gurjeet Kaur (15, 19,
21, 22 min), all PCs Leelima Minz (51 min) Navneet Kaur (57 min) |
Semi-final |
June 22 |
India 4 - Chile 2 |
Gurjeet Kaur (22, 37 min), both PCs Navneet Kaur (31 min)
Rani Rampal (57 min) |
Final |
June 23 |
India 3 - Japan 1 |
Rani Rampal (3 min), PC Gurjeet Kaur (45, 60 min), both PCs |
Rising star Lalremsiami's father passed away the day before the
semi-final. She was given the option to return home. She told the coach,
"I want to make my father proud. I want to stay, play and make sure
India qualifies."
Said coach Marijne after the semi-final victory, "Every player went
and hugged Siami after the match. It is not easy to deal with a big loss
at such a young age. She gave everything for the team. Indians should be
proud of Siami."
The following were the tournament awards:
- Player of the Tournament: Rani Rampal
- Top Scorer of the Tournament: Gurjeet Kaur (11 goals)
The final standings were: 1 - India, 2 - Japan, 3 - Chile, 4 -
Russia, 5 - Poland, 6 - Uruguay, 7 - Mexico, 8 - Fiji
The Indian team for the Women's FIH Series Finals was as follows:
Goalkeepers: Savita Punia (vice-captain), Rajani Etimarpu
Defenders: Deep Grace Ekka, Nisha, Gurjeet Kaur, Salima Tete,
Sunita Lakra
Midfielders: Monika, Nikki Pradhan, Leelima Minz, Neha Goyal,
Sushila Chanu Pukhrambam
Forwards: Rani Rampal (captain), Vandana Katariya,
Navjyot Kaur, Navneet Kaur, Lalremsiami, Jyoti
Officials: Sjoerd Marijne (chief coach), Bharat Kumar Chhetri
(manager)
|
Indian Junior Men Come A Disappointing 6th In 8-Nation u-21 Tournament In Madrid |

India men's u-21 team, photograph courtesy Hockey India
n
8-nation, u-21 junior men's hockey tournament was held in
Madrid, Spain from June 10-16, 2019. The participating teams were
grouped into two pools as follows:
- Pool A: Austria, Belgium, Germany, Great Britain
- Pool B: Australia, India, Netherlands, Spain
India had a disappointing tournament, losing 4 of the 5 matches it
played to finish 6th. India's match results were as follows:
Stage |
Date |
Result |
Goal Scorers - India |
Pool |
June 10 |
Australia 4 - India 0 |
|
|
June 11 |
Netherlands 3 - India 2 |
VIshnukant Singh (23 min) Sudeep Chirmako (37 min) |
|
June 13 |
Spain 3 - India 1 |
Pratap Lakra (31 min), PC |
5th - 8th |
June 15 |
India 4 - Austria 2 |
Sanjay (15, 23 min), both PCs Rahul Rajbhar (35 min) Prabhjyot Singh (51 min) |
5th - 6th |
June 16 |
Great Britain 2 - India 1 |
Maninder Singh (15 min) |
One fallout of India's performance in the tournament was that Jude
Felix was sacked as the coach of the junior men's team.
The final standing were as follows: 1 - Germany, 2 - Spain, 3 - Belgium, 4 -
Australia, 5 - Great Britain, 6 - India, 7 - Netherlands, 8 - Austria
The Indian team for the 8-nation, u-21 junior men's hockey tournament was as follows:
Goalkeepers: Prashant Kumar Chauhan, Pavan
Defenders: Mandeep Mor (captain), Suman Beck (vice-captain),
Pratap Lakra, Sanjay, Akashdeep Singh Jr., Parampreet Singh
Midfielders: Yashdeep Sivach, Rabichandra Singh Moirangthem,
Vishnukant Singh, Maninder Singh, Vishal Antil
Forwards: Amandeep Singh, Rahul Kumar Rajbhar, Shivam Anand,
Sudeep Chirmako, Prabhjyot Singh
Officials: Jude Felix (chief coach), B. J. Cariappa (manager)
|
Photograph of the Month |

Ramandeep's first goal in the semi-final against Japan, Photograph courtesy
The Hindu
he
Photograph of the Month for July 2019 is of the comeback kid Ramandeep Singh
scoring his first of two goals against Japan in the Men's FIH Series
Finals. This is the first goal he scored for India after nearly an
year-long layoff following a knee injury during the 2018 Champions Trophy
in Breda, Netherlands.
Ramandeep (128 caps, 50 goals) fittingly won the Man of the Match
award for the India vs. Japan semi-final, a win that enabled India to
make it to the final stage of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics Qualifier.
|
Money Matters |

he
International Hockey Federation (FIH) put an
end to the disciplinary case against the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF)
that was initiated after Pakistan's withdrawal from the FIH Pro League
on 23rd January, 2019, after the competition had started.
As per the settlement agreement, the original fine amount (over
170,000 euros), which was supposed to be paid by 20th June,
2019, was reduced to just 25% of the original amount.
This reduced fine was further divided as follows:
- 50% of the amount to be invested by PHF in grassroots hockey
development over the next two years, under monitoring by the Asian
Hockey Federation
- 50% of the amount to be paid to the FIH in three installments
within one year (by July 2020)
The first instalment has to paid by 19th August 2019,
for Pakistan to be considred for the final stage of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics Qualifier.
Commenting on the agreement, FIH CEO Thierry Weil said: "FIH came to
this agreement with the objective of protecting the development of the game in
Pakistan, while making it clear that jeopardising one of our events
cannot be accepted. Considering the circumstances, we think this is the
best possible outcome, and wish that Pakistan hockey will soon flourish
again."
The disciplinary proceedings against the PHF are now closed.
|
Media Matters |

Image courtesy The Kapil Sharma Show
ormer
India captain and star drag-flicker Sandeep Singh has had a stellar year
in the media spotlight. In July of 2018, a biopic based on his life,
Soorma, was released in theatres. The film was directed by Shaad Ali,
produced by Sony Pictures, Chitrangada Singh and Deepak Singh, and
starred Diljeet Singh in the title role.
Later in the year, Nahargarh fort's Jaipur Wax Museum added the wax
statue of Sandeep Singh to its collection. The unveiling of the statue
was done by Sandeep Singh himself, with his entire family gracing the
occasion.
Sandeep Singh made his small screen debut with MTV Roadies reality
show in February 2019, where he plays one of the team leaders, along
with the likes of actress Neha Dhupia, Prince Narula and others.
Sandeep also featured on The Kapil Sharma Show on
Sony Entertainment Television in June 2019, along
with sportspersons Bhaichung Bhutia and Duttee Chand. On the show,
Sandeep Singh talked about the unfortunate incident when he was
accidentally shot, that forced him to be bedridden for two years, before
he made a comeback to the game and even captained India.
Good for Sandeep and good for the sport, that hockey keeps showing up
in the public consciousness, be it in the form of a movie, or an episode
on television, or as an inspiring statue in a wax museum.
As Anoop Srivastava, Founder Director, Jaipur Wax Museum said, "The
museum's motto is to entertain the visitors and at the same time inspire
them. We don't follow glamour alone while deciding the celebrity statue.
Sandeep Singh's life changed completely when he was accidentally hit by
a bullet. Doctors and society gave up on him, and it was an end to his
hockey career. But he gathered himself with his willpower and made a
comeback to the sport which he loved passionately, and took Indian
hockey to greater heights. At the Museum, we want the next generation to
be inspired with such stories."
|
Visitor of the Month |

he
July 2019 Visitor of the Month is Barinder Singh (Banti) from the
Cdr. Nandy Singh Academy in Kolkata. Barinder send the following email to BharatiyaHockey.org:
To celebrate Olympic Day on 23rd June, 2019, on behalf of
Commander Nandy Singh Academy, Kolkata, I would like to request you
to kindly mail Indian Olympic Team group pictures of the Olympic
Years 1956 up to 2016.
|
Fun With Numbers |

Statistics by B. G. Joshi
he
July 2019 edition of Fun with Numbers is on the Pan Am Games hockey
competition, the 14th edition of which will be held in Lima, Peru, from July
29 - August 10, 2019.
MEN'S PAN AM GAMES HOCKEY
- Argentina, Canada and USA are the only countries to have
participated in all 13 editions of the Men's Pan Am Games hockey
tournament
- Argentina is the only country to have won a medal in every
edition of the tournament (9 gold and 4 silver)
- Argentina and Canada, from diametrically opposite ends of the
Pan American region, are the only countries have won the Men's Pan
Am Games hockey gold
- Till date 18 countries have participated in Men's Pan Am Games
hockey tournament, with only 7 countries have won medals
- The person with the most Pan Am Games hockey tournament
appearances is Satinder Paul 'Bubli' Chohan with 6 appearances
(1975, 79, 83, 87, 91, 95)
- Only one country from the Pan American region has won the
Olympic gold in men's hockey - Argentina in the 2016 Rio Olympics
- Cesar Raguso of Argentina (born 20th June, 1960) is the all-time
youngest Olympic hockey player (men/women) when he played in the
1976 Montreal Olympics at age 16
Country |
World Rank |
Appearances |
Gold |
Silver |
Bronze |
Argentina |
4 |
13 |
9 |
4 |
|
Canada |
10 |
13 |
4 |
7 |
1 |
Mexico |
32 |
9 |
|
1 |
2 |
Trinidad & Tobago |
37 |
12 |
|
1 |
|
USA |
24 |
13 |
|
|
4 |
Chile |
28 |
12 |
|
|
4 |
Cuba |
69 |
9 |
|
|
2 |
WOMEN'S PAN AM GAMES HOCKEY
- Argentina, Canada and USA are the only countries to have
participated in all 8 editions of the Women's Pan Am Games hockey
tournament
- Argentina and USA are the only countries have won the Women's Pan
Am Cup hockey gold
- Argentina and USA are the only countries to have won a medal in every
edition of the tournament
- Till date 16 countries have participated in Women's Pan Am Games
hockey tournament, with only 6 countries having won medals
- No country from the Pan American region has won the
Olympic gold in women's hockey - Argentina reached the Olympic final
twice, but won silver both times
- The most decorated player from the Pan American
region is Luciana Aymar, who won 2 World Cups, 6 Champion Trophy
golds and was 8-time FIH Player of the Year
Country |
World Rank |
Appearances |
Gold |
Silver |
Bronze |
Argentina |
3 |
8 |
6 |
2 |
|
USA |
13 |
8 |
2 |
5 |
1 |
Canada |
18 |
8 |
|
1 |
4 |
Chile |
15 |
5 |
|
|
1 |
Uruguay |
25 |
3 |
|
|
1 |
Netherlands Antilles (now defunct) |
|
|
|
|
1 |
|