TABLE OF CONTENTS SERIAL PARTICULARS PAGE NO. NO. 1 HISTORY OF MEN’S HOCKEY- ITS ORIGIN 2 HISTORY OF WOMEN’S HOCKEY- ITS ORIGIN AND PROGRESS 3 INDIAN HOCKEY FEDERATION- ITS ORIGIN AND PROGRESS 4 THE GOLDEN MOMENTS OF INDIAN HOCKEY- RECORD IN OLYMPICS 5 GRADUAL DECLINE IN THE PERFORMANCE OF HOCKEY TEAM- CAUSES 6 INDIAN MEN’S HOCKEY TEAM FAILING TO QUALIFY FOR BEIJING OLYMPICS 7 RESIGNATION OF HIGH OFFICIALS DUE TO THE FAILURE 8 CRICKET AND HOCKEY COMPARED 9 LAYMAN’S SOLUTION FOR THE REVIVAL OF INDIAN HOCKEY OBJECTIVE Every work is and should be supported by an objective. Without a specific objective that particular work is of no use. Therefore every project work should have something to say or teach people who are reading it. Here the topic of discussion is the “JOURNEY OF INDIAN HOCKEY”. We are here to discuss about how hockey evolved as a world famous game, how it came to India and the way the Indians mastered it. But we have to consider the slowdown in the performance of Indian hockey teams in the last 2-3 decades. It has really shown a downward trend. Then we will look upon the causes for the decline and the measures for revival of Indian hockey. My sole objective to make a project report on this topic is to create awareness among my mates and the people, about HOCKEY the sport which the people of our country have forgotten. People don’t even know the names of hockey players and the tournaments in which the team plays at various levels. We just enjoy watching and gaining knowledge of sports like Cricket, Tennis or Chess that’s it! The point to understand is that Hockey is our national game and we have an immense pride associated with it so we have to watch it, take part in it and support it. HISTORY Hockey is one of the many sports derived from pre historic man's delight in stick and ball games. It is a game played between two teams on a field with curved sticks and a small hard ball. Its birth place was Asia and authorities credit Persia with having devised it about 2000BC. Modern hockey was created in England. The true ancestor of hockey was Irish hurling. The first hockey club was formed in Blackheath in 1861. The first international match was played in 1895 between England and Ireland. In 1908 hockey was included in the modern Olympic Games. The most extra ordinary aspect of its evolution is that a game once so rough and unruly was adopted by women. Hockey became popular in India when the British Regiments played the game in India and introduced it in the British Indian Regiments who quickly picked up the game. The first hockey club was formed in Calcutta in 1885-86 followed by Bombay and Punjab. The Bengal Hockey was the first Hockey Association in India founded in 1908. With the popularity of the game, associations were formed in different states like Bombay, Bihar, Orissa and Delhi. Women's hockey Women's hockey developed separately from men's hockey. Women do not seem to have played hockey widely before the modern era. Women's hockey was first played at British Universities and schools, and the first club, Molesey Ladies Hockey Club, was founded in 1887. The first national association was the Irish Ladies Hockey Union in 1894, and though rebuffed by the Hockey Association, women's hockey grew rapidly around the world. This led to the formation of the International Federation of Women's Hockey Associations (IFWHA) in 1927, though this did not include initially many continental European countries where women played as sections of men's associations and were affiliated to the FIH. The IFWHA held conferences every three years, and the tournaments associated with these were the primary IFWHA competitions. These tournaments were non-competitive until 1975. By the early 1970's there were 22 associations with women's sections in the FIH and 36 associations in the IFWHA. Discussions were started about a common rule book. The FIH introduced competitive tournaments in 1974, forcing the acceptance of the principle of competitive hockey by the IFWHA in 1973. It took until 1982 for the two bodies to merge, but this allowed the introduction of women's hockey to the 1980 Olympic Games , where, as in the men's game, The Netherlands, Germany, and Australia have been consistently strong. National women's team The Indian Women's Hockey Team is the national women's team representing field hockey in India. Captain Suraj Lata Devi led the team to the Gold for three consecutive years: during the 2002 Commonwealth Games (the event which inspired the 2007 Bollywood hit film, Chak De India), the 2003 Afro-Asian Games, and the 2004 Hockey Asia Cup. They were referred to as the assi (Jasjeet) jaisi koi nahi or "Golden girls of hockey," after winning the 2004 Hockey Asia Cup. [10] On 24 April 2008, India lost 2-1 to the United States during the 2008 Women's Field Hockey Olympic Qualifier. The team was thus eliminated from the Beijing Olympics competition. On 29 April 2008, following the suspension of the Indian Hockey Federation, [3] The Hindustan Times revealed that 16 days before leaving for the games, a report found many of the players to be unfit for international competition. The report was quoted as stating, "Eleven girls are suffering from different injuries and are under treatment and thus not fit for international competition of Olympic qualifying standards." On June 27 2009, India became the first winner of the women's Champions Challenge II in hockey history after they defeated Belgium 6-3 in the final in Kazan, Russia. INDIAN HOCKEY FEDERATION The Indian Hockey Federation was formed in the year 1925 in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh during the Scindia Gold Cup tournament. But it was not active after that. After the end of the World War 1, the commander of the British Armed forces in India, Field Marshall Birdwood who was in charge of organizing the retreat of the combined Australian and New Zealand armies after the Gallipoli tragedy proposed a hockey tour to New Zealand in 1926 as a friendship tour. The tour Down Under gave a chance for revival of the Federations and thus began the efforts of consolidating the Indian Hockey Federation as the Indian Army's Hockey team toured New Zealand. That was our first-ever foreign tour, and it was a smash hit. And New Zealand made a profit of £300 even after paying India £500. The Indian Hockey Federation gained global affiliation in 1927 and joined the International Hockey Federation (FIH). A national championship between provinces was organized in 1928 at Calcutta to select the Indian team for the Amsterdam Olympics. Thus began the history of Indian Hockey Federation as India entered the Olympics to begin its golden saga. The Army Hockey team's tour to New Zealand was the first tour undertaken by any Indian team representing IHF. And the players were conscious to project a good image and they had excellent skills that thrilled everyone. The tour was a huge success with India winning 18 of the 21 matches and the legendary Dhyan Chand was the cynosure of all the eyes scoring over 100 goals of the 192 Indian accounted for. Then India bagged a hat-trick of gold medals at the Olympics. They began with Amsterdam in 1928 and followed it up with Los Angeles in 1932 and Berlin in 1936. For both Los Angeles and Berlin India had problems. For LA Games, India was the only entry as the world was hit by economic depression. Then Indian Hockey Federation president AM Hayman motivated Japan by organizing Indian team visit to give them practice and persuaded hosts to enter the fray. So hockey just managed to be in the Olympic field and that gave the world to see the magic of Indian hockey. Funds were also a problem in the lead-up to the Berlin Olympics in 1936. The first Indian to head the IHF, Jagdish Prasad, managed by collecting Rs 11,376 out of the required sum of Rs 45,000 from royal families. As such the hockey foundations were laid in the country, thanks to the leadership of stalwarts like Birdwood, Hayman and Jagdish Prasad. In 1934 after the second Olympic gold, the Indian Hockey Federation inducted two Vice Presidents and a Treasurer. Thus the two member body of President and Secretary got a boost to become a five-member body. After the Indian Independence in 1947, Naval Tata became the first President of the Indian Hockey Federation of Independent India. During his tenure, the Indian team achieved another hat-trick of gold medals at the 1948 London Olympics, 1952 Helsinki Games and the Melbourne Olympics. Then Ashwini Kumar took over from Tata and was at the helm of affairs till 1974 to give way to MAM Ramaswamy. Later, many presidents including I.M. Mahajan, Raja Bhalindra Singh and R.N. Prasad ruled till K.P.S. Gill took over in 1994. In this period, India could gain only one gold medal at the Moscow Olympics in 1980 under the captaincy of Mr.V.Baskaran. Under the present regime with Mr. K.P.S. Gill at the helm, assisted by Mr.K.Jothikumaran as Secretary General India started on a long road back developing hockey at all the age-group levels. Indian teams started winning the regional tournaments at Asian level and IHF is drafting ways to revive the past glory.