Nostalgia is not something Harendra Singh indulges in. Yet, to him, sun-bleached snapshots of his time as India’s chief coach still feel raw, like an old wound. Time may have dulled the pain. Yet, when the dust motes from the forgotten corners of his memory dance they bring a deep-seated regret.
The 2016 Junior World Cup winning coach, now settled in the USA, as the chief coach of their men’s hockey team says his biggest regret is not the 2000 Sydney Olympics (assistant coach) where India failed to reach the semi-finals, a surprise draw against Poland derailing those hopes or the 2005 Junior World Cup (Chief Coach) where India led Australia 2-0 in the semis before some controversial umpiring helped Australia make a comeback and win 3-2.
The moment that still rankles, sits inside him like an unrelenting bacillus is the day when the Hockey India Selection Committee, along with him as chief coach, kept Sardar Singh out of the core team for the Asian Champions Trophy which, in a way, led to Sardar not making the cut for the World Cup.
The former Indian captain went onto announce his retirement that year, at the age of 33.
Also, when the World Cup squad was being selected, Harendra says his hand was forced to keep Rupinder Pal Singh out of the squad. “Those two decisions hurt me now,” he says, his eyes moist with emotion. “My hand was forced, and I was told very clearly it is this or the highway.”
Harendra relented to the demands of the selection committee. India played some excellent hockey in the Pool stages, in fact, leading against Belgium 2-1 before the eventual World Champions pulled off an equaliser with four minutes to go.
In the quarterfinals, India met Netherlands. After leading 1-0 with an Akashdeep Singh goal in the 12th minute, the Dutch pulled back 1-1 within three minutes. India lost control of the midfield. Slowly the Dutch, through some brilliant play by their captain Billy Bakker as the medio, controlled the flow and scored the match-winner in the 50th minute as India crashed out of the World Cup in front of a packed Kalinga Stadium.
As we speak now, Harendra is sitting three floors below in the team’s press conference area, the belly of the iconic Birsa Munda Stadium in Rourkela after spending a week watching the Pro League in Bhubaneswar.
“It was heart breaking,” he continues, pausing a while still trying to compose his thoughts. “Rupinder Pal Singh and Sardar Singh were the most deserving players. They should have been on the team. There are many regrets in life, but we could have won a medal after the Champions Trophy.”
India had reached the 2018 Champions Trophy final in Breda where they lost to Australia in the shoot-out. “We could have won a medal in the World Cup. I still go and watch the Indian-Netherlands game every week and second by second, I can give you the commentary also. I still regret it.”
To put this in perspective, we need to take a step back to the 2017 Asia Cup, when Sjoerd Marijne was appointed as the men’s Chief Coach with David John being the High-Performance director. Both had an issue with Sardar. At the Asia Cup in Dhaka, which India won, it was quite clear that Marijne wasn’t too taken up with Sardar, either in the midfield or even as sweeper. He was constantly asked to play full back.
Predictably, Sardar Singh didn’t make it to the 2018 Commonwealth Games squad, Marijne deciding against taking him, preferring younger players or as it was being written ‘younger legs’. India finished 4th at the CWG, outside of the podium, their worst finish.
Unsurprisngly, Marijne was sacked. Harendra Singh, then the women’s coach, that finished 4th at the CWG, was brought back as men’s coach. For the 2018 Champions Trophy, Sardar Singh made it to the team. “He is still the best to hold the game in the middle”, Harendra Singh had said after India beat Pakistan in the opening match at the Champions Trophy.
Sjoerd Marijne with the Indian men's hockey team at a camp in Bengaluru in 2017
(Photo: Hockey India)
With the Asian Games and the World Cup looming large, it was expected that Harendra would largely play the Champions Trophy team. But there was a twist. The surprising semi-final loss to Malaysia in Jakarta brought in a fresh churn. It was just one of those matches, and it happened in a knock-out game. The AG loss left Harendra weak against the selection committee, the High-Performance Director David John and the multiple tugs-of-wars that were happening. Sardar’s case didn’t even make it to the WC selection; he was kept out of the squad of 25. Rupinder Pal Singh was dropped from the World Cup squad.
Interestingly, former Indian captain and now Hockey India President Dilip Tirkey had then said this about Sardar in an interview to Firstpost: “I don’t think I have seen India play like that in last 2-3 years (India vs Malaysia, semis-final). It was easily the worst match of the year for us. But to punish a player for one bad game is a bit harsh. This can happen in any sport. Look at cricket; if your main batsman gets out for a duck, will you drop him? It doesn’t happen that way.”
“He (Sardar) is an experienced player, and the absence of a player of his experience will obviously be felt. If you look at the history of Indian hockey, it has enough instances where a senior player has had to exit before a big event for a variety of reasons. I don’t know what has transpired between him and Hockey India.”
Harendra, even though he hates traversing the path back or as he says, ‘it’s better to keep happy memories’ in the same breath adds ‘at times the mistakes loom large’.
In the Indian context of things, in most sport, a coach is not the final authority and then upending conventional wisdom has been part of Hockey India’s constitution. Hopefully, now with Tirkey as President, coach Craig Fulton gets the freedom to not only select the best players but the right ones.
That could give Harendra Singh some comfort.
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