'Modern hockey demands 150 percent fitness'

Dhanraj Pillay hailed from such a modest background in Khadki Pune that he could not even own a hockey stick in his childhood Itrsquos been a tough journey to Mumbai and then across the globe as he went around earning laurels for the country by wielding his stick like a magic wand Post his playing days hersquos beena coach manager mentor and currently in charge of the Mumbai arm ofAirIndia Sports Promotion BoardOn the sidelines ofmiddayMasterclass he spoke about hockeyrsquos transition from grass to artificial turf European domination in the sport and of course his brilliant captaincy that saw India win gold at the 1998 BangkokAsianGamesDhanraj PillayExcerptsAt 51 you are still fit as ever What is the secret of your fitness I was very dedicated to the game hockey was my passion I couldnrsquot have imagined doing anything else Itrsquos in my genes My elder brothers were very fit and by watching them Ilearntthe importance of fitness Irsquom very thankful that I trained under one of the best coaches mdashJoaquimCarvalhoCan you tell us about the changing landscape of hockey over the years mdash the transition from playing on grass to artificial turf Till 2005 it was all about skillful hockey Teams likethe Netherlands Germany EnglandAustralia India and Pakistan played skillful and artistic hockey But then the rules changed and hockey has now become so fast When I watch hockey on TV now I pinch myself and ask if I played this sport or someone else did Today only if you have 150percentfitness can you play for 60 minutes So any youngster who wants to pursue the game must be fit enough and should work very hardWhat makes the Europeans so successful in hockey The Europeans were the first to introduce astroturf By the time it came toAsia especially India and Pakistan it was too lateThe Europeans had already mastered their skills on artificial turf In India it came to Patiala in 1976 and that too only half the ground had astroturf We gotfullfledgedturf only for the New DelhiAsianGames in 1982 Thatrsquos the reason they Europeans are a superpower in hockeyYou led India to one of its most famous wins mdash the 1998 Asian Games gold in Bangkok You were also the highest goal scorer Can you tell us about that experience We had at least seven to eight senior players in that line upMK Kaushik was our coach He was also the best coach at the 1998AsianGames I remember Olympian Merwyn Fernandes came to train ourforward line Kaushik gave us forwards a free hand he told me to handle theforward line Our combination mdash Sabu Varkey Mukesh Kumar Baljit Singh Dhillon mdash was the best We had one of the bestdefencelines too in Dilip Tirkey Lazarus Barla and Anil AldrinIn goal we hadAshishBallal andABSubbaiah reserve goalkeeper The world witnessed some skillful hockey in that tournament It changed a lot of things in Indian hockey too Many of us went on to play the 2000 Sydney Olympics as well as the 2004AthensOlympicsDhanraj Pillay I quit traveling by train because of middayIn 1998 I was selected in the World XI team by the International Hockey Federation FIH One day I was traveling by train to Churchgate for a match Most of us sportsmen and women in Mumbai would buy mid day because they covered all sports and not just cricket I too was reading midday when someone clicked a photograph of me without my knowledge and sent it to the newspaper The next day it was published with the headline lsquo Dhanraj Pillay still travels by train after being selected in the World XI teamrsquo From that day I decided to stop traveling anywhere by train Even if I had to travel home to Pune I hired a taxi because I did not want the name of hockey to be affected because of me