Mumbai:
Bombay Gold Cup is a popular tournament and some of India’s top teams participate in it. Some of India’s biggest stars have enthralled crowds at the Mahindra Stadium in Churchgate.
What makes the 48th edition of this tournament unique though, is that seven players from the 2001 Junior World Cup winning team are in the city.
On Thursday, the Mumbai Hockey Association Ltd. (MHAL), which is conducting the Bombay Gold Cup, felicitated the heroes of that spectacular triumph 12 years ago.
Mumbai boy Viren Rasquinha, Indian Oil’s Deepak Thakur, Prabhjot Singh and Devesh Chouhan, Air India boys Prabodh Tirkey, Arjun Halappa and Vikram Pillay were all handed mementoes in between matches at the MHA on Thursday.
All the players have fond memories of their triumph, which briefly marked the revival of Indian hockey.
Recalling his experience, Halappa who has now become a national selector, says: “It was a turning point for Indian hockey, a revival of sorts. Players started getting attention and with it came decent money from the government. We also found a sponsor in Sahara who gave us all the support we needed.
“The future of hockey was looking up.”
That entire batch was arguably the best India has seen in a long, long time. Many of the World Cup heroes graduated to become formidable India stars. Rasquinha, in fact, went on to lead the team.
Explaining the reason behind the team’s success, striker Deepak Thakur, who top-scored with ten goals including two hat-tricks in the tournament, says: “Our approach was positive. Even before we could leave for Hobart, we had created a positive atmosphere. We had decided that come what may, we have to win this World Cup. We stayed like a family and every player knew another very well, as a result of which we combined well on the field.”
Rasquinha, who probably was in the best form of his career, couldn’t agree with his teammate more: “The best thing about that team was that coach Rajinder Singh created a super atmosphere. We knew each other very well, because we were playing as a unit since 1998. I guess sharing a good rapport with teammates makes a big difference,” he insists.
source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> Sports> Hockey> Air India / by Sudheendra Tripathi, TNN / October 25th, 2013
