Junior Hockey World Cup: Colts look to repeat 2001 show

Come Thursday, young hockey talent from across the globe will come face-to-face on the biggest stage as the Junior Hockey World Cup gets under way in Lucknow. Sixteen teams from five continents will strut their stuff as the battle for supremacy at the Under-21 begins.

In their quest for the coveted title, Harendra Singh’s boys will find plenty of inspiration from India’s 2001 Junior World Cup campaign in Australia, when they returned home victorious under striker Gagan Ajit Singh. It was India’s first and only Junior World Cup title.

Members of the 2001 squad, who registered a historic title win, are looking ahead to the tournament that is being held in India for the second time.

Former India striker Deepak Thakur, the top scorer in that edition with 10 goals, recollects the gruelling journey to the title.

“When we think about the 2001 World Cup now, we just cannot believe how we managed to win. It was sheer individual brilliance and calibre of that team. We were superior in each department,” Thakur said recently.

“Apart from me, we had players like Gagan Ajit, Prabhjot in attack, Ignace Tirkey and Jugraj Singh in defence, Prabodh Tirkey, Bimal Lakra, Arjun Halappa, Viren Rasquinha were a part of the team and Devesh (Chauhan) was the goalkeeper.”

Ex-skipper Rajpal Singh shared his thoughts on the 2001 triumph and the squad.
“You can imagine how strong the team was that the 18th player of the team became the captain of the senior team in 2010 and that was me. Most of the players are still active at the domestic level,” he said.

He said players did not have so many facilities back then but there were no complaints as they were just focused on winning the title.

“I still remember that we had practised in the Hyderabad weather and then went to play in chilly winter in Hobart. Not only that but the food was so bad that we survived on pizzas for the whole tournament,” he recollected.

“But we had positivity in the team and from the first day our motto was to win. The players backed each other. Indian hockey was not doing in terms of results during those days and only a major title could have revive the fortunes.

Thakur maintained that playing at home, India will be among the favourites to clinch the title for a second time.

“I think they will easily reach the semi-finals. The preparation has been good and they had the exposure. I don’t find any minus points and hope that they win the title this time in front of home crowd,” he said.

Rajpal agreed, saying “There is a realistic chance of a podium finish this time. The format is good as earlier we had league, super league, semi-final and final format. Now we have league, quarter-final and final format. We have to see how the team take advantage of this.”