Hockey
How Coach Graham Reid chose the Indian hockey team to end medal drought at Olympics
Indian men's hockey team coach- Graham Reid takes us on a journey of how he selected his 16-memeber-team for Tokyo Olympics.
Coming in as the successor to Harendra Singh - easily the most popular coach the Indian men's team have had in the recent past - could not have been easy for Graham Reid, especially with a fiery debate raging with regard to the efficacy of a foreign mentor vis-Ã -vis a home-grown one.
Unlike Harendra, the former Australian Olympian did have luxury of settling in as the Indians were not slated to play any world class teams in 2019, but his boys went about their business in a thorough and business-like fashion making sure they booked their Olympic slots without breaking into a sweat.
Reid's boys on a roll ahead of Tokyo Games
The 2020 Hockey Pro League was undoubtedly the big test for the Men in Blue as they took on the top three teams of world hockey early last year and sounded a shrill warning to their Olympic rivals with a string of rousing performances at the Kalinga Stadium.
After picking up vital HPL points against the Netherlands, Belgium, and Australia, the Indians continued their winning ways against a resurgent German side as part of a European tour- and also got past Argentina as the beleaguered Pro League crawled ahead amidst the pandemic.
Clearly, Graham Reid's performance graph is pointed unflinchingly northwards as the Indians head into Tokyo, and, as part of Hockey India's virtual press conference, the Aussie veteran told The Bridge that he is just as happy as a coach can be with the way things have progressed leading up to the big event.
"A coach always wants to do more before the Olympics, but I have been very happy to be honest. What has been really good in these last fifteen months is the ability to get to know these players and that is often something that you often do not get to do as a coach."
"We have had a lot of time together, and I have got to know all their stories backwards. We have spent a lot of time building the mentality of this side."
Indeed, a mentality that, according to Reid, lays emphasis on freshness, exuberance, and a team-first frame of mind - all of which were considered while shortlisting the chosen sixteen who will attempt to end India's 41-year medal drought at Tokyo.
Quite a few eyebrows were raised when the Indians announced a team with a forward-line that included newbie Shamsher Singh and sans the outrageously talented Akashdeep Singh whose mesmerizing stick work and spectacular tomahawks delighted the hockey world ever so often.
Also missing from the list of strikers is SV Sunil, whose darting runs have brought the galleries to life on many a stage. The Karnataka stalwart who, incidentally, missed the 2018 World Cup too has been sidelined ever since.
When questioned by the media on the thought process behind the selections, skipper Manpreet Singh opined briefly that every player on the flight to Tokyo deserved a seat thereto, but his pensive and pragmatic coach delved deep.
Factors behind selections - Flexibility, weather, team-first and off-ball players
The 57-year-old Queenslander who was part of a legendary Australian side alongside Ric Charlesworth and Terry Walsh shed light on the various factors that prompted the final selections while refusing to specifically take names of players selected or omitted.
"I come from, perhaps, a culture where youth, and the ability to bring exuberance and freshness to a group is really important. It's been five years since the last Olympics and that's a long time."
"The heat and humidity in Tokyo is also a factor. We need to play two back-to-back games."
"Normally, we are used to having a team of 18 and the flexibility that it provides. With 16, you have less of that, of course. The ability to be able to play across multiple lines is also a factor. If a key player gets injured you then need a player who can play across defence, midfield, and as a striker or vice versa."
"Modern hockey is also about off ball play – that is when we don't have the ball - as much as it is when we have the ball. We play a game that involves a lot of pressing, a lot of running, and enthusiasm, tone and energy and those sorts of things are important in the people that we have selected."
"We often see that someone is really great on the ball, but we do not see the same off the ball. Things like team mentality and team-first mentality are also really important. The guys we have selected are team players."
Elsewhere, an Olympic pick that startled many was that of Australian Dylan Martin who will make his Games debut for the kookaburras, at Tokyo, after having made his international debut against New Zealand a couple of months ago.
Given the fact that there hasn't been a lot of international hockey recently, are teams around the world attempting to surprise the opposition by introducing relatively unknown players on to the Olympic pitch?
While Reid doesn't believe the unexpected selections are an attempt to surprise the opposition, they are, as he put it, the outcome of the postponement of the Games, as a result of which new players have now come to the fore.
"With the kind of training environments that we have had over the last 15 months, where we have been together for the last 15 months, things are going to change, things are going to happen, players are going to develop unbeknown to the rest of the world", says Reid.
"The 12-month delay has worked for some players because they have had the opportunity to get better and improve over that period. The rest of the world isn't seeing these players because they have been training purely behind closed doors for that long."
"We have beaten 11 of the 12 Olympic teams in the last two years"
The million-dollar question, of course, is whether Reid's boys can make history by standing atop the podium after four decades - and, the man at the helm believes that the Indians who have beaten 11 out 12 teams who are part of the Olympic line-up have every chance of delivering the goods.
"If you look at the 12 teams that are going to the Olympic Games, in the last two years, we have have played and beaten all 12 except for Canada. We haven't had a chance to play Canada. I think that is a really important point to note."
"We are definitely aiming to jump on to that podium."
While it isn't the first time that Indian medal hopes have been raised on the eve of an Olympic competition, even a die-hard sceptic will concede that never before has an Indian team performed as consistently as the present bunch who now carry the hopes of a billion onto Tokyo.
The Indian Team:
Goalkeeper: PR Sreejesh
Defenders: Harmanpreet Singh, Rupinder Pal Singh, Surender Kumar, Amit Rohidas, Birendra Lakra
Midfielders: Hardik Singh, Manpreet Singh, Vivek Sagar, Nilakanta Sharma, Sumit
Forwards: Mandeep Singh, Lalit Upadhyay, Gurjant Singh, Shamsher Singh, Dilpreet Singh