Hockey India must look beyond Asia

Therersquos something really good and something really bad about the current Indian menrsquos hockey team The good thing is that they continue to dominate Asia The bad thing is that they have struggled against the worldrsquos bestThe results of skipper Harmanpreet Singhrsquos team over the past couple of years underline this contradiction While India have consistently delivered in continental competitions their performances in tournaments featuring the worldrsquos leading teams have exposed significant shortcomingsSince retaining their Olympic bronze medal at Paris 2024 India have competed in six major tournaments They won the 2024 Asian Champions Trophy in China They finished eighth in the nineteam 202425 FIH Pro League They won the 2025 Asia Cup in Rajgir Bihar They finished eighth in the nineteam 202526 FIH Pro League They finished eighth at the 2026 FIH World Cup in Belgium and the Netherlands They won the 2026 Asian Games gold medal in JapanThe contrast is telling India continues to be a force in Asia but their performances against stronger international opposition have raised questions about their ability to compete with the worldrsquos bestThe FIH rankings underline the challenge While Germany Belgium Australia Argentina and the Netherlands are occupying the top five positions respectively India No 8 are the highestranked Asian team with Pakistan 12 Malaysia 14 Japan 16 South Korea 20and China 21 far behindThe obvious solution is to ensure India play regularly against higherranked opposition Instead the sportrsquos national governing body Hockey India HI is preparing to host the Asian Champions Trophy ACT in Punjab Oct 27 to Nov 5 with Malaysia South Korea China Japan and Bangladesh No 27 joining the hosts Jalandhar will host the ACTrsquos opening ceremony and leaguestage matches before the tournament moves to Mohali for the semifinals on November 4 and the medal matches on November 5There is no denying the importance of bringing international hockey back to Punjab a state with a rich hockey tradition and a passionate fan base but the larger question is whether this tournament will address Indiarsquos shortcomings against the worldrsquos leading teams Another competition against familiar Asian opponents will bring more silverware but it is unlikely to prepare the side for the challenges that await at the highest level There is little doubt thatPunjabi fans will turn out in force and celebrate Indiarsquos victories with song and bhangra But the celebrations will count for little if Indiarsquos players continue to dance to the tunes of higherranked opposition at global competitionsInviting a topranked nonAsian team to Punjab for a Test series to give Indian players valuable exposure to different playing styles greater intensity and the tactical demands of facing the best in the business would have been a better idea But itrsquos difficult to seek sound ideation from a federation thatrsquos instead dealing with infighting between its President Dilip Tirkey and Secretary General Bholanath Singh HI needs to get its house in order immediately because with India having qualified for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics every training session match and competition hereon should be in preparation for that allimportant quadrennial showpieceInstead after this ACT tournament India will be travelling to New Zealand No 9 another team ranked lower than them for a threematch Test series next month Nov 19 21 and 22The desperate need for India to play quality opposition stems from not just its poor results in major nonAsian competitions but also from some embarrassing defeats en route Indiarsquos hockey aficionados will never forget the 08 thrashing at the hands of Argentina in the FIH Pro League on that Terrible Thursday of February 12 this year in front of a passionate home crowd at Rourkelarsquos Birsa Munda Stadium It matched Indiarsquos previous worst defeat mdash a 08 loss to Australia in the 2010 Commonwealth Games gold medal match at New Delhirsquos Major Dhyan Chand Stadium I was covering those Games and remember calling my editor back in Mumbai and telling him that I felt ashamed by the scoreline and didnrsquot know what to write in my match report His response was ldquoWrite exactly thatrdquo So the next dayrsquos headline in middayrsquos sports pages readlsquoOur hockey correspondent was too ashamed to file a reportrsquoThat memory is a grim reminder of how badly things can go when Indian hockey comes up against superior opposition HI must ensure such history never repeats And the only way to do that is by helping this team strike the right balance between maintaining its continental supremacy and preparing for the demands of world hockey by consistently competing with the best right up to LA 2028middayrsquos Sports Editor Ashwin Ferro loves to play ball fair and square and everywhere He tweets ashwinferroSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper