CURRENT ISSUE NOVEMBER 06, 2006

Unlikely revival

Warring mandarins sink differences and politicos lend a helping hand to revive hockey in Bhopal. India Today's Ambareesh Mishra reports.

The last time Bhopal's famed hockey made a mark on the international scene was back in the 2000 Sydney Olympics when left winger Sameer Dad scored a brace of goals. Ever since he last donned the Indian colours in 2001 though, the nursery of hockey had been wilting. The hopes of the diehard hockey lovers in the crammed walled city of Bhopal were, however, revived recently when two young lads were selected for a probables camp in Raurkela in Jharkhand for national duty. Now, desperate hockey lovers are hoping they make it to the squad for the Doha Asian Games in December.

The selection of Ausaf-ur-Rehman and Faisal Ajiz has indeed revived a flicker of hope amongst hockey lovers and the game's mandarins in Bhopal. The signs have been encouraging of late. The selection of 21-year-old Ausaf and 19-year-old Faisal is a testimony that hockey's family tradition of young boys following in the footsteps of their stick-wielding parents, uncles or elder brothers would continue to be a reliable supply line of younger talents.

Ausaf's uncle played at national level in the mid-80s and his brother Altaf-ur-Rehman is an international to boot, having last plied his trade overseas in 2001. Faisal's uncle was also a national-level player.

"When the chips were down, family tradition of hockey kept the sport alive on the streets of Bhopal," a visibly proud Altaf says talking about his younger brother. Ausaf's name has been shortlisted to a pruned squad of 26 from the original 40. Ajiz, meanwhile, returned to SAI Centre Bhopal after the tour of Japan, for which the camp was originally intended, was cancelled. "It's been an invaluable experience," he said after winning the inter-SAI senior hockey tournament in Bhopal on October 11 (Wednesday). They are just two of the many talents being groomed at the SAI Centre - the most notable being Mubeen and Shadaab, who, SAI coaches believe, are both international material.

The young guns - almost all of them from lower middle class wanting to make a mark - are the product of the Sports Authority of India (SAI) hockey centre in Bhopal, the only ray of hope for the youngsters when the defunct Bhopal Hockey Association (BHA) was unable to put its act together. Admits Ikram-ur-Rehman, the secretary of one faction of the BHA, "I must say SAI has kept the hockey alive for the aspiring youngsters." The other face of the story is the deep-rooted love for it in the State capital. In al, 39 of the trainees at the SAI Centre in Bhopal under three schemes - SAI Training Centre (STC), day boarding and excellence - are local lads.

"Those who wished to write the epitaph of Bhopal hockey should think twice," says YS Chauhan, the SAI coach who is grooming them. Sameer Dad was also his understudy at the SAI. The SAI Bhopal Centre has won the junior and senior titles of the inter-SAI tournaments in 2005 and 2006. In fact, former Olympians say that the value of SAI training centre has been beyond the obvious platform it provided for the youngsters when the local clubs have gone into hybernation. "The virtues of discipline, diet, sports medicine and fitness regimen that the SAI's technical staff brings has done wonders to the entire approach of youngsters," says Syed Jalaluddin Rizvi, former Olympian and Arjun Awardee with over 100 international caps for India. But the SAI Centre isn't the only good bit of news in the entire saga.

For one, the warring factions of the Bhopal Hockey Association have decided to sink their differences and withdraw the court cases against each other to work together. In February this year, Ikram-ur-Rehman, a former national player who is the secretary of the BHA faction led by retired IPS officer PN Chaturvedi, and former Olympian Jalaluddin Rizvi, who represents the rival faction led by another IPS officer MW Ansari (now in Chhattisgarh) held a series of talks to sort out their feuds that were killing the hockey. Now, the two factions say they have agreed to withdraw the court cases against each other and it was only a matter of formality.

Even former Union Minister and ex-olympian Aslam Sher Khan, who was a member of the ad hoc body that was foisted on the BHA by the IHF president KPS Gill in 2003, has agreed to come on board. The other power centre of Bhopal hockey - former Congress MP Ghufraan-e-Azam - who lost the election to the post of IHF president to KPS Gill in the early 90s - has meanwhile kept away.

The other big factor that is spurring revival plans of hockey is the positive intent the ruling BJP's politicians have shown in the sport of late. Earlier, BJP politicians hardly took any interest in the affairs of Bhopal hockey. The sport was mostly confined to the walled city - all the 24 international players including four olympians from Bhopal are Muslims - and the party left the game to its own devices in the past. Not any more. while the entry of politicians in sports administration can often spell doom, the BJP leaders taking interest in the national sport in the State capital for now seem to have a positive agenda.

The ambitious chairman of the Bhopal Development Authority (BDA), Dhruv Narayan Singh, has held talks with all the BHA factions to hold a national-level tournament in the State capital in the coming winter.
"We plan to take the sport back to its golden days in Bhopal," he says. In fact, Sports and Youth Welfare Minister Yashodhara Raje's recent decisions could give a fillip to hockey in the entire State.
With her active interest, a Girls Hockey Academy was opened in July this year in Gwalior, another city with a strong tradition of the sport. Shivendra Singh, who recently made a mark with his field goals in the Hockey World Cup in Germany, is from the City.

She has sanctioned funds for the laying of half-turfs in places like Seoni - where tribal students are making a strong pitch for the sport and in Chhatarpur - where girl hockey players have shown a lot of promise. In these places, she went by the recommendations of former Olympians and international players. For the deteriorating astro-turf at Bhopal's Aishbagh Stadium that has already outlived its life by a decade, a Rs. 1.25 crore proposal is under consideration of the State Government to install a super turf in its place.

Once that happens, the major worry of former and current players - lack of tournaments to keep the interest alive amongst the fans - would be a thing of the past. Contrary to popular belief that hockey has been left an orphan, industry and business have shown interest in the sport in Bhopal. The Obedullah Khan Gold Cup Hockey tournament in the late 90s in which teams from Pakistan also participated was sponsored by Bhopal Sugar Industry. "With infrastructure in place, sponsorship is not a problem," says BHA secretary Rehman. If things go well, Obedullah Khan Hockey Tournament would be held this year after a gap of three years since 2003.

While IHF chief KPS Gill remains the object of hate in Bhopal, most of the problems of Bhopal's hockey are homegrown ad very basic in nature.
The small sports grounds that dotted the walled city some 20 years back where kids used to pick up the sport are vanishing at a rapid pace. It's primarily because of civic authorities turning the valuable land into real estate assets, or parking for the growing number of vehicles. "We are working on a number of ideas to ensure that kids in the walled city - who are the supply line of Bhopal hockey - get basic facilities near their homes," says Dhruv Narayan Singh.

Once that happens, the national sport would perhaps reach the same dizzying heights of the yore in Bhopal once again.

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