A Senior National Championship is supposed to attract the top players and should be the ultimate competition for that particular event in the country.
However, the 10th Senior
National Women's Hockey Championship
which recently concluded in Kollam was anything but that.
Olympian Poonam Rani, an India discard at 28, was the tournament's biggest and lone star. The average age of the four teams - Haryana, SAI, MP hockey Academy and Maharashtra - which figured in the semifinals was below 20 year of age giving the impression that it was a junior national tournament.
Haryana which won the championship after routing SAI had two players - Poonam (28) and Momita (21) - above the age of 20 while the rest were 19-year-olds or below who had come to the nationals after participating in the Khelo India Youth Games in Guwahati, two weeks ago. The majority of the players will now head to Bhubaneswar to compete in the Khelo India University Games from February 27 to March 4.
The absence of Railways, eight-time champions, hit the tournament really hard. Both the Railway men and women teams were banned by
Hockey India
after it was found that one male player figured in two national level tournaments in 2018 and 2019 as different persons.
The Railways pre-empted their players from participating in the nationals by conducting an inter-railway tournament in Karpurtala which coincided with the National championships.
"This is like banning own players," fumed Dronacharya
Baldev Singh
who was here as an observer for Haryana team. "How petty can it be. Banning own players from nationals and then robbing them of to give a chance to show their mettle is unfair," said the 70-year-old who have trained eight Indian captains and another 80 internationals.
Sandeep Singh, current women's captain
Rani Rampal,
Didar Singh
, Sanjeev Kumar Harpal Singh, Navjot Kaur, Arjuna awardees Jasjeet Kaur, Surnder Kaur Ritu Rani are all his famous wards.
Railways provide employment to a majority of hockey players. Out of the 25 players in the Tokyo-bound Indian women's camp, 19 are from Railways. The absence of Railway players badly hit the quality of competition. "The inquiry committee will be meeting after Railways submit their replies on June 30,"
Mushtaque Ahmed
, HI president, told TOI.
Matches were predictable and one-sided. A refreshing change was
Sport Authority of India
, Ranchi which had gained promotion to 'A' division this year. SAI punched above its weight to enter the final but ran out of steam in the final against Haryana.
One of the coaches, who requested anonymity, put things in perspective when he said: "When 100-odd Railways players were prevented from representing their states, the senior national championship here at Kollam was a tournament for the bacchas (children). Hockey India should ensure quality competition in the premier championships or else the nationals will lose its sheen".