Former India’s Chief Operating Director David John believes that the Indian hockey team will reach its climax at the 2028 Olympics, awarding its best medal in several years to a gold medal.“In the 2024 and 2028 games, most of the team will be our young World Cup players. They will have played about 300 international matches at that time and it will be for about 30 years each, ”he said next to the Khelo India Youth Games, suggesting that the team will have the necessary skills to pull off any pressure.
Indian hockey shows signs of a happy awakening, with the men winning bronze and the women finishing fourth in the fray at the Tokyo Games recently.”These are exciting times for India but many teams – including Germany, Australia, Belgium and Holland – are also getting better,” warned David.Director of Senior Operations, David, who had been with the Indian Team for several years before resigning, has returned to the country as Director of Odisha Hockey. He is happy with his assignment, especially as he fully supports the Minister of Sport, Naveen Patnaik.“It is a challenging role. But if Odisha gets stronger, Indian hockey gets stronger, both for men and women, ”he explained, confirming that his goal and shortcomings were to make his team number 1 in the country.
In pursuit of this goal, Odisha has already built 20 synthetic turfs in hockey, and that too in the deep pockets of a country where extreme poverty is associated with an abundance of natural talent.”Soon, our children will be playing in the action and not on the grass from the grassroots itself,” he said, confirming the popular view that this is the only way forward for Indian hockey.“Our next step is to put the best coaches in each of these new stadiums so that they can get the best training at the grassroots level. In 8 years, you will see Odisha different from hockey, and hopefully India is different. “
The highly regarded Australian expressed surprise at the Indians’ good playing skills but insisted that they had to give up to become a national army again. “Do not try to outdo your opponents. Modern hockey is about 3D skills and aerial skills. Fortunately these youngsters have taken away these skills, ”he said, pointing to the flow of the game.“Our players are fast and attacking but they lose the ball to rival D as they run very close to the defenders. What’s worse is the words that I can spell I often mistype. ”Odisha boys win bronze medal at KIYG and their girls are set to face Haryana in the final.
