Picked for senior side, juniors take UPH to quarters
Relying on juniors, the Uttar Pradesh hockey side has made a strong impression in the senior national championship currently in progress at Bhopal and entered the quarterfinals where they will face Tamil Nadu on Thursday at 3.45 p.m. Sixteen members of the 18-member squad, barring goalkeeper Ayush and experienced Arjun Yadav, are juniors.
Two-time runners-up and one-time third-place holders since 2012, Uttar Pradesh Hockey made it to quarterfinals with two successive wins in Pool B. First, UP defeated Chhattisgarh 7-0. Then, they routed Telangana 8-0.
Out of the 15 goals scored by UP in the two matches, Dharmendra Yadav and Manish Sahni netted three goals each. Sadiq, Monu Rajbhar, Arjun Yadav shared six goals among them. Rahul Singh, Rishabh Sahu and Rahul Yadav netted a goal each.
Lauding the team’s performance, coach Jitendra Bhadauriya on Wednesday said despite having so many juniors in the side, the boys are excited. “It’s an opportunity for the juniors to come up the ladder by winning more matches. They are ready to give off their best here,” he said.
Ahead of this year’s senior national championship, Uttar Pradesh Hockey found it difficult to put together a good side as there were no seniors left to be picked. No government or private organization, including
Railways, agreed to release their players as they themselves wanted to have a strong side for the national championship. Uttar Pradesh Hockey had no other option but to rely on its juniors for the senior matches.
“In fact, we had to struggle a lot in the beginning as there was no quality available for selection among the seniors. No one was ready to release players for us as they all wanted to have their own strong sides,” said UP Hockey’s chief selector and former India captain Rajneesh Mishra.
“So, we had no other option but to pick the juniors. They have been doing wonders. The way they scored in the league matches is very admirable. I hope that they would continue their winning streak in the quarterfinals too,” said Mishra.
Uttar Pradesh Hockey secretary RP Singh, too, hailed the team’s performance. He said that from the next year, UPH would not be struggling for quality players as there would be enough recruitment of sportspersons, including hockey players, in various departments of the state government as per the policy.
“In the near future, we are going to have hockey players in different departments of the state government. In such a scenario, there would be no crisis of getting quality senior players. It doesn’t mean that we are undermining the performance of our juniors in Bhopal and I am sure they would come back home with flying colours.”