New Delhi: It once chronicled Mir Ranjan Negi’s epic fall from grace, Dhanraj Pillay’s artistic shovel and Sandeep Singh’s muscle Developed drag action, but over the past decade the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium’s concrete pillars and poorly maintained, dusty bucket seats may have resigned themselves to fate. its glory days as an epicenter indian hockey It’s a thing of the past.
Odisha government has not played an international match in 10 years after taking path-breaking decision to help India hockey The Capital National Stadium in Bhubaneswar and Rourkela has the opportunity to host two ‘Tests’ against Germany on October 23 and 24 and show that all is not lost for Delhi as the ‘hockey hub’. Early millennium.
indian hockey President Dilip Tirkey is hoping for a good turnout, considering hockey’s growing popularity after two consecutive Olympic bronze medals.
“The way domestic matches were played in Delhi in the past was spectacular. I also made my international debut in Delhi through the 1995 Indira Gandhi Gold Cup. A lot of spectators used to come here and we also hope that the glory of hockey continues “Return to Delhi,” Tirqui told PTI Bhasha.
“After the Tokyo and Paris Olympics, the popularity of hockey has increased exponentially and now stadiums will be waiting for spectators,” said the legendary former defender.
The last international match held here was the 2014 Hero World League Finals. Inter-departmental institutional hockey games are occasionally held here.
“I was an official here during the 2010 World Cup and people from all over the country came here to watch the matches,” said Ajay Kumar Bansal, former coach and administrator of the Indian junior and women’s hockey teams. .
“Odisha has been hosting hockey tournaments for the past few years, so the match charts there have gone up, on the contrary, since there is no hockey tournament in Delhi, the hockey match charts have gone down. The youngsters have not seen any big hockey tournaments being played here. , so their interest naturally declined,” he said.
“Apart from this, the maintenance of the stadiums is also affected due to lack of matches. I hope that from next time, four or five venues such as Delhi, Punjab, Haryana should be included in the Indian Hockey League.”
Former India World Cup-winning captain Ajit Pal Singh believes that matches against strong teams should be played across all sectors of Indian hockey.
“Many years later, an international match will be held in Delhi. Earlier, many ‘Test’ matches used to be held at the Shivaji Stadium. I think it is important to hold matches and tournaments across the country and not in a centralized manner,” the former skipper explain.
“There is a lot of hockey in India, with many good players emerging from states such as Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu. Hockey is very popular in Odisha and Jharkhand, But it is also important to organize big tournaments in other states,” he added.
Revealing details of the preparations, Dhyanchand Stadium officials said the Astor turf cleaning work at the main pitch and practice ground was carried out for a week using German machines and has now been completed. Rs 30 lakh is spent annually on maintaining the two lawns.
They said the auditorium, locker rooms, dressing rooms and the entire complex had been cleared. They also said there was no need to upgrade as it was a world-class stadium hosting the World Cup and Commonwealth Games.
The stadium also houses the Sports Authority of India’s National Center of Excellence’s Hockey Academy, where practices are conducted regularly. In addition to this, under SAI’s “Come and Play” program, some children come to play hockey and they are very excited about these games.
When India defeated arch-rivals Pakistan in the 2010 World Cup and the Commonwealth Games in the same year, there was excitement in the packed stadiums.
The National Stadium (originally known as the Owen Amphitheater) was a gift to Delhi from the Maharaja of Bhavnagar and witnessed the first Asian Games in 1951 and the players shed tears after losing the hockey final to Pakistan in the 1982 Asian Games.
At the same venue, Australia defeated hosts India 8-0 in the 2010 Commonwealth Games final, one of their heaviest defeats ever.
