After the debacle of the Doha Asian Games and the Monchengladbach World Cup, people had just given up on Indian hockey. There was increasing pressure on the hockey setup in India from the international hockey federation (FIH), which sent in people to study the reason for the sad state of affairs. Obviously, with so much money in the country now, the FIH did not want to lose out on the big bucks with India doing badly and popularity of the game going down.

In the meanwhile, there was change in India. Olympian Joaquim Carvalho took over as the chief coach of a team that was in tatters – mentally and physically – in the middle of the year. It seems to have been the right choice made by the Indian Hockey Federation. For, Carvalho is the no-nonsense kind of coach.

He made it clear that he should be given the team he wants and also that he would not tolerate indiscipline. His approach was simple – star player or newcomer, you need to work hard for your place in the team.

No resting on past glories was his simple mantra. The team looked organised with the inclusion of proper support staff.

This was the medicine needed for the illness prevalent at that time. Things began to fall in place with Carvalho in charge. With bronze medals at the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Kuala Lumpur and the Champions Challenge in Boom, things began to look up for the ‘Men in Blue’.

One of the best performances of the year came in the Asia Cup in Chennai in August-September. India retained the title they had won in 2003 in Kuala Lumpur. This instilled more faith in people that things were slowly getting back on track.

Another important development in the year was the appointment of Australian legend Ric Charlesworth as the technical adviser for the men’s and women’s teams. Good to have someone of the calibre of Charlesworth helping the Indians out.

However, the big test is to come in 2008 in the form of the Olympics qualifiers in Santiago (Chile) in March. But for now, things look good and one can hope for better things to come in the New Year.
For the women’s team, it was a different problem. The year saw the replacement of long-time coach MK Kaushik, someone who has done a good job with the women’s team in the recent past. He was with the Haryana government as the deputy director of sports and was at times not given permission to take charge of the National camp. Gurdayal Singh Bangu was made the coach of the team for two tournaments and things stand that way.

The women’s team finished fourth in the women’s Asia Cup in Hong Kong. They too have to play the qualifying tournament in Kazan (Russia) to make it to the Beijing Games.

With the women’s team, one is not sure which way things will go. But with the men’s team at least, things are looking up and the young and raring-to-go lot promise to fight it out to fetch India glory.