In the future, sports historians will mark February 26, 2012, as the day Indians rediscovered their national sport.
On that day, at the National Stadium, Delhi, the crowd was delirious, jumping, screaming for Sandeep and Sardara, Bharat and Sunil, as if they were Tendulkar or Dhoni. With every goal India scored against France, the excitement rose another notch. When the game ended, and India had qualified for the Olympics, the crowd was in sporting nirvana. A placard captured the mood: Cricket: Zero/Hockey: Hero.
A Licence to Kill
Ric Charlesworth lost this battle. He remembers putting together a list of 10 things he wanted the authorities to do. “Number one on the list was that everyone on the contract would get paid. We didn’t get to number two. It was impossible to get anyone to make a decision. No one knew where the money went.”
Nobbs’s attention, therefore, is now focussed on raising the team’s fitness levels.
‘Top Athletes Don’t Give Excuses’
(This story appears in the 27 April, 2012 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)
I hope that Indian hockey team will come back again on top.
on Mar 28, 2013Great article....Amazing job by Nobbs....
on May 15, 2012i wish you and team all the best for upcoming tournaments.keep rocking :) i love my India and love my game hockey .
on Apr 30, 2012Hockey-that was once the pride of India and the national game. Several Olympic medals for hockey in our kitty. Alas-the glory gone! Your great write up gives the hope of a gold in the days to come. Thanks for a great and in-depth analysis made by the authors. Congrats!
on Apr 29, 2012Thank u so much for spending ten days of ur time at bangalore national camp... thank u forbes. Wish we get to see the best of indian hockey "Sport" in days to come. Its real sport for real men :) i wish all the best to indian hockey team and its most admired "guru" :)
on Apr 28, 2012Thank you Forbes for carrying this piece, hope it builds on what the Olympic qualification did in the resurgence of Hockey. Though there is a long way still to go before it gets as popular as it was before the 80s.
on Apr 23, 2012Brilliant piece! Michael Nobbs is surely the man who will help realise our Olympic Gold dream! Just got a new found trust in Hockey after reading this article. Will take some dietary tips from this as well.
on Apr 23, 2012A growth story which continues unnoticed. I hope the coach survives his entire term and is not made a victim to red-tapism or the policy paralysis which has been the biggest curse in India. It's a reality that India needs a dictatorial style of bureaucracy(i don't like the term and believe it's a wrong term.He actually is performing just like a strict leader) for a long term transformation which is how he is performing.
on Apr 23, 2012