HIGHLIGHTS
Indian hockey is poised for ultimate glory in 2028 Olympics: David John
Indian hockey has shown signs of a heart-warming resurgence
David John is back in the Odisha as its Director of Hockey
Former India High-Performance Director David John believes the Indian hockey team would reach its peak in the 2028 Olympics, giving it its best chance at a gold medal in several years.
“In the 2024 and 2028 Games, most in the squad will be our current junior World Cup players. They would have played close to 300 Internationals together by then and would be about 30 years each,”
He declared on the sidelines of a Khelo India Youth Games match that the team would have the necessary experience to handle any strain.
Indian hockey has recently shown signs of a heartening comeback, with the men’s team winning bronze and the women’s team placing a courageous fourth at the Tokyo Olympics.
David warned,
“These are exciting times for India but many squads – including Germany, Australia, Belgium and Holland – are also getting better,”
David, the High-Performance Director for Team India before resigning, has returned to the country as the Director of Hockey for Odisha. He is enthusiastic about his task, especially since he has the full support of the state’s sports-loving Chief Minister, Naveen Patnaik.
“It is a challenging role. But if Odisha becomes strong, Indian hockey becomes strong, both in men and women,”
he explained, confirming that his goal and brief was to make his team Number 1 in the country.
In pursuit of this goal, Odisha is already constructing 20 more synthetic turfs for hockey, and that too is in the deepest pockets of the state where extreme poverty co-exists with an rich of natural talent.
“Soon, our kids will play on synthetic and not on grass from the grassroots level itself,”
he thundered, confirming the well-known notion that this was the only way forward for Indian hockey.
“Our next step is to put good coaches in place at each of these new turfs so that they receive the best coaching at the grassroots level itself. In 8 years, you will see a different Odisha in hockey, and hopefully a different India.”
The much-respected Australian expressed amazement at the dribbling skills of Indians but insisted that they needed to sacrifice them to become a world force again.
“Don’t try to dribble past your opponents. Modern hockey is all about 3D and aerial skills. Fortunately, these youngsters have all imbibed these skills,”
he said, pointing to the rapid flow of the match.
“Our players are quick and adept at attacking but they lose the ball in the rival D as they run too close to the defenders. Worse, that allows the other side to counter-attack with devastating effect,”
David
Odisha boys have won the bronze medal at the KIYG and their girls are scheduled to clash in the final with Haryana.
