I have started watching Hockey from the 2004 Athens Olympics where India finished 7th but after the tournament I was in love with the game of Hockey. After that I learned about the glorious past of Indian Hockey. Indian Hockey has dominated World Hockey from 1920 to 1980 which include 8 Olympic Gold Medals and one World Cup. In football, Brazil dominated for a while and in Cricket, West Indies and Australia Dominated for twenty years but no team has dominated any sport with this success rate and for such a huge period of time. This makes our past unique and awesome. However from the 1980's , Indian Hockey declined rapidly mainly due to the introduction of Astro turfs in Hockey. The artificial grass made Hockey a powerful game and Indians were known for their skill set on the grass arena. They struggled against the strong and powerful European Teams after 1980's. In the 2008 Olympics, India missed out on an Olympics for the first time in 88 years. In the 2012 London Olympics, India Finished last (12th Position). There were no signs of revival and with the Cricket World Cup victories in 2007,2011 and with the introduction of IPL, Indian Hockey was completely pushed to the corner. The revival started to happen post 2015. New players came in and special focus was given to the Youth team. This resulted in India winning the Junior Hockey World Cup in 2016. From there, we were on a comeback.India went on to win silver medals at Champions Trophy in 2016 and 2018. However we once again missed a podium finish at the Rio Olympics.
I always wanted to see Indian Hockey back to its glory and with the revival spirit from 2016, it was pretty much sure that we will be there very soon. Finally today, Indian Hockey is back on the Olympic Podium with a Bronze Medal. This Indian Team will not crumble under pressure. They are truly on the journey of becoming a Hockey Power House. Time for us to fall in Love with Hockey once again. This is a great Moment for Indian Hockey. A moment that will change the Fortunes of Indian Hockey. As the Australian Cricket Head Coach said "Never Ever underestimate Indians". They Introduced Astro Turf to put an end to our Dominance but now we are competing head to head with them.
