Watching live hockey inspired Raheel to take up the stick

During India’s match against Pakistan in the 2014 Men’s Hockey Champions Trophy at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, a young Mohammed Raheel sat amongst a noisy animated crowd, quietly observing and occasionally cheering every move made by the home team on the field. 

India went on to lose that semifinal clash against their arch-rivals, but the then 17-year-old Raheel, mesmerised by the electric atmosphere and the passion displayed by the players, knew exactly what he wanted to be when he grew up. 

“It was the first time I was watching a live international match as a spectator at a stadium,” recollects Raheel. “The experience inspired me. Wearing an Indian jersey and playing in front of big crowds became the goals I wanted to achieve,” he adds.

A dream that he envisioned many summers ago took shape last year with Raheel making an impression at every given opportunity thereon. More recently, his contribution led to India's title-winning cause against Pakistan. 

After donning the national team colours for the first time for a hockey 5s event and making his debut in the senior 11-a-side squad in 2022, the 26-year-old from Karnataka turned out to be the saviour for the Indian side at the Asia Cup Hockey 5s final against the neighbours in Salalah, Oman last Saturday. 

Down 2-4, Raheel scored the crucial third and the fourth goals to help India end regulation time tied at 4-4. Winning the penalty shootout a few moments later, India emerged champions and sealed their berth for the inaugural Hockey 5s World Cup to be held in Oman next January. 

“We had lost to Pakistan in the league stage so we had a point to prove in the final. A man down (because of a card) and two goals down wasn’t an ideal position to be in. But our goalkeeper Suraj (Karkera) saved a couple of open sitters that boosted our confidence and we fought our way back into the game.

“Also, having someone like Sardar Singh accompanying us made a huge difference. He knows every trick of the trade and his guidance was valuable in winning the trophy,” says Raheel about the former Indian skipper.

The striker struck 21 goals in seven matches, out of which seven goals came against Japan in the league stage. Raheel finished as the third highest goal-scorer - behind Pakistan’s Abdul Rana (27) and fellow Indian Maninder Singh (22) - in the tournament. 

“The first time I played for the country was in a hockey 5s event in Switzerland last year where I finished as the top-scorer with 10 goals in 5 games. So, going by the numbers, I’m happy with my progress,” expresses Raheel who comes from a family of hockey players. 

For someone who is a regular at the national camp and plays the traditional 11-a-side hockey more often, the shorter format wasn’t a difficult switch to make, he admits. In fact, Raheel’s hockey 5s journey began on a grand note when Karnataka won all the three nationals conducted in this format so far between 2017-19 in which he also turned out to be the top-scorer in all three editions.  

“There isn’t much of a difference between the two formats. Just that, in hockey 5s, anything can happen any time. Within a minute, a team can be down, equalise and take a lead. It’s that fast.”

Which of the two formats, then, does he enjoy playing more? Raheel simply says: “I enjoy scoring goals. That’s all.” 

Cut-off box - Hockey's version of T20  The exciting shorter format of hockey often compared to Twenty 20 of cricket first made inroads in the country around 2015.  Since then Hockey India and several state associations have organised tournaments to popularise the newer version of the sport that has five players (one goalkeeper four on-field players) tussling for a total of 20 minutes broken down to two halves of 10 minutes each on a smaller field area.  Over the last two weeks both the national men’s and women’s teams were crowned champions at the inaugural Asia Cup Hockey 5s tournament held in Salalah Oman.  The victories ensured India's entry to the first-ever hockey 5s World Cup scheduled to take place from January 24-31 2024 in Muscat Oman. While the men have been grouped along Egypt Switzerland and Jamaica in Pool B of the 16-nation event the women are drawn with USA Poland and Namibia in Pool C.  “Though the format is fairly new in the country the results prove that we have adapted to it quite well” said CB Janardhana coach of the men’s team. “Out of the seven games we lost one against Pakistan. Apart from the title the biggest takeaway for us is that we scored 87 goals (most by a team) and conceded only 20” he added.  On the contrary though the women’s side finished on top of the podium no Indian featured in the top-3 list of the most goals scored (individual/ team) lists. “Despite the fact that three girls were playing this format for the first time we gelled well as a team that helped us win” explained Y Soundarya the women’s coach. “With the World Cup in sight where we will face tougher sides we will work on improving speed and scoring” she claimed.