Better facilities could have helped the Indian men’s hockey team to clinch Gold

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Could the Indian men’s hockey team have clinched Gold if the players had got the International standard infrastructure at home to practice?

These apprehensions were made by Amritsar Vikas Manch (AVM) who is of the view that better facilities at home would have helped the Indian team script history in the Commonwealth Games 2022.

The #MenInBlue had an amazing run in the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games in winning a Silver! _#ChakDeIndia _#IndiaKaGame #HockeyIndia #B2022 #Birmingham2022 @CMO_Odisha @sports_odisha @IndiaSports @Media_SAI pic.twitter.com/9LXrSkPME7 — Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) August 8, 2022

Patron AVM Kulwant Singh Ankhi informed that five players of the Indian men’s hockey team namely vice president Harmanpreet Singh, Gurjant Singh, Shamsher Singh, Dilpreet Singh, and Jugraj Singh belonged to Amritsar.

“These are the moments of celebrations for us that Indian hockey team has won the medal in the Commonwealth Games-2022 and this is also the matter of proud for the residents of Amritsar that five players of the Indian hockey team are the bonafide residents of the district but they could have done much better if the government here had provided them the better infrastructure to practice,” said he.

He further said that AVM was of the view that these players might have performed much better if they had been provided with the modern facilities and equipment of international standards. “Their skill and talent might have improved provided they had practiced on the new Astroturf hockey ground,” said he.

He said Guru Nanak Dev University had the Astroturf ground since 2008 but according to experts the Astroturf had to be replaced after 8 or 9 years.

So the astroturf has expired and must be replaced with a new of best quality” said he.

President AVM Hardip Singh Chahal informed that AVM had written to the state sports department and sports authority of India to sanction funds for the new astroturf hockey ground but they were yet to rec live a reply.

Vice Chairman of Maharaja Ranjit Singh Hockey Academy Dr Avtar Singh said it was unfortunate for the Indian team to lose to the Australians. He said every district of India should have at least one astroturf. He said if it was not possible for the government to buy new ones then it could purchase second-hand astroturf from European countries which sell them for around Rs 25 lakh.

- by Ravinder Singh Robin