'Indian hockey will lose out on one of its most important nurseries of good hockey talent.'
It was touted as the year which could herald a change in the fortunes Indian hockey, but 2018 turned out to be yet another saga of missed opportunities for the sport.
Hockey India (HI) secretary general Bhola Nath Singh on Saturday claimed that India will definitely win gold at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics if they miss out on the yellow metal in Paris next year.
The Birmingham Commonwealth Games is scheduled from July 28 to August 8, while the Asian Games will be held from September 10 to 25 this year.
The Indian men's hockey team will have to guard against complacency when it takes on lower-ranked Russia, while a tricky contest awaits their female counterparts against United States in the two-legged Olympic qualifiers.
The other Indian shuttlers who participated in the singles events of the Super 1000 tournament have already left Thailand while the doubles players will fly out on Monday.
Hockey greats Vasudevan Baskaran, M M Somaya and Mervyn Fernandis relive India's gold medal-winning campaign at the Moscow Olympics in 1980.
The FIH Hockey Pro League matches between India and Great Britain, scheduled for May 8-9 in London, were on Wednesday postponed following the UK government's decision to add India to the travel 'red list'.
Hockey fraternity including three former captains on Friday expressed shock over the decision to appoint women's team coach Sjoerd Marijne as head coach of the Indian men's side, saying the abrupt move 'defies logic'.
Former South Africa batting all-rounder Farhan Behardien is hoping that the new COVID-19 variant, which is causing alarm here, will not jeopardise India's tour of the country next month as young cricketers of his nation need the series "more than ever".
While India will play host to the men's tournament, Spain and the Netherlands have been named as the co-host of the 2022 Women's World Cup scheduled to be held from July 1 to 22.
India's dream run in the Women's Junior Hockey World Cup ended as they lost 0-3 to defending champions the Netherlands scored in the second semi-final in Monchengladbach, Germany, on Friday.
India goalkeeper PR Sreejesh and Deepika won the Dhruv Batra Player of the Year award for men and women, respectively, at the Hockey India second annual awards, in Bengaluru, on Saturday.
Eight-time Olympic hockey champions India may not have made the cut for Beijing Games for the first time in 80 years, but four of its coaches will be at the hockey tournament to study the strategy of other participating nations.
Virat Kohli, who will turn 34 on Saturday, is back in his element
World Cup-winning junior coach Harendra Singh is set to apply for the vacant senior men's team coach and feels he is best suited for the role.
The camp getting underway in Bengaluru on Sunday will conclude on September 18.
The age-old malady of inconsistency remained unaddressed but Indian hockey did take baby steps towards global success in 2017, a year which reaffirmed the nation's continental supremacy in the sport.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Saturday
India's star drag-flicker Harmanpreet Singh was on Tuesday named among the five nominees for the men's Player of the Year honour.
'But people shouldn't misunderstand me. It was not that I was disappointed to go back to women's team, I was not happy the way they handled it with men's team because I left on a really good moment.'
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday
In the absence of skipper Sardara Singh, the Indian men's hockey team suffered another defeat in the Asian Champions Trophy.
"The start has been good. In the tournament, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Argentina and Australia are some of the best teams. We have started off well and need to keep the momentum going and continue with same energy," Sardar said on Thursday.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Sunday
Hockey India president Narinder Batra on Monday ruled out Pakistani players participation in future editions of Hockey India League saying they will not be considered until they apologise for their 'unacceptable behaviour' during last year's Champions Trophy.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Sunday.
Indian women's team captain Ritu Rani and senior's men's team drag-flicker V R Raghunath were on Wednesday recommended by Hockey India for the Arjuna Award.
Former India coach Anil Kumble is in the running for the Coach of the Year award in the inaugural edition of the Indian Sports Honours, instituted by the RP-SG Group in association with the foundation of skipper Virat Kohli.
Yesterday, women's coach Harendra Singh was made in-charge of the men's side, while men's coach Sjoerd Marijne was re-designated the women's coach in a rejigging of roles by the Hockey India following the medalless show of the teams at last month's Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.
The ICC's decision to award six points to Pakistan after the Indian women's team was deemed to have forfeited each of the three matches of the ICC Women's Championship was a result of non-communication from the BCCI about the team's participation. A well-informed source told PTI that there were multiple e-mail communication from ICC, but there was no response to any of the e-mails to provide reasons for not playing the series against Pakistan, which was scheduled to be held between 1 August and 31 October.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Sunday
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday
'The law is neither able nor willing to function the way the legal machinery is envisaged.'
Modi leads politicians and sportspersons in wishing countrymen on National Sports Day
Former India hockey player and coach M K Kaushik on Saturday died after battling COVID-19 for the past three weeks.
At 14 she represented India for the first time and scored a scintillating goal. Since then there has been no looking back for this striker with electric speed and agility.
India swept the International Hockey Federation's annual awards on Wednesday, claiming all the top honours, based on a voting system which was lambasted as a "failure" by men's Olympic champions Belgium, prompting the FIH to say that it would try to figure why some associations did not cast their ballot.
Skipper Rani Rampal has been rested for next month's Women's Asian Champions Trophy and in her absence vice-captain Savita will lead an 18-strong Indian hockey team.
