High hopes for Indian men’s handball team
LUCKNOW:In their four appearances so far in as many as nine editions of 36-year-old history of the Asian Games, Indian men could make it to the top eight only once in handball, that too, when India hosted the Games in New Delhi in 1982. Thereafter, it took 24 years to the side to qualify for the Games but there was no remarkable change in the team’s performance and it settled for 12th spot in 2006, followed by 9th at the 2010 Games, before finishing a poor 14th at the Incheon Asian Games in 2014.
On the contrary, Indian eves have been consistent, finishing 8th in the last three editions of the Games. Will there be a change in the fortunes for the Indian men’s team at the Jakarta/Palembang Games this time? “Certainly, there will be improvement as right now we are the 7th ranked side at the Games. Despite having a short period of training (two months) we are hoping for a good finish,” captain Deepak Ahlawat said on Thursday.
“Unlike the past, we got to play on taraflex flooring throughout the camp, and have done a good homework,” said Ahlawat, adding, “We took some time to be perfect in the game as we had to adjust with the size of the ball as well as glue and other technical aspects as we had knowledge of playing the game only in open areas.”
He, however, admitted that there was a big disappointment when the players at the camp came to know that Indian Olympic Association had denied them entry in the Games. “However, things changed suddenly when were heard about last-minute clearance of the team.”
Chief coach Shivaji Sindhu, who is on his maiden assignment with the men’s team, claimed that in the absence of teams in ranking like Australia, Uzbekistan, China, Oman and UAE (who have opted out this time), his men need to do well as this is a big opportunity for them to better their ranking in Asia.
“Our first target would be to make it to the quarterfinals. I feel the boys have the ability to handle China and Iraq well, but Bahrain would be a tough nut to crack,” he said. He accepted that the use of vex/gum in indoor training and size of the ball were altogether a different experience for the players initially in the camp, but they perfected their passing, catching and shooting soon. “Team tactics and individual training were the different things we tried at the camp, and this would help us do well at the Jakarta Games,” said Sindhu.
He, however, refused to accept that Indian men’s were going to make a podium finish. “It’s a farfetched dream, and I don’t think that anybody should expect us to win medal. But for sure, we would be doing better to increase our ranking in Asia,” he added.
Indian men’s team entry in the Jakarta Games were full of ‘drama’ as despite being denied an entry by the IOA, the Asian Handball Federation (AHF) got it listed in the draw before the cut-off date and as soon as the five teams withdrawal, it automatically jumped to the seventh spot in the ranking ladder, thus qualifying for the Asian Games.
The Indian women’s team made it to the Games automatically being among the top eight in the Asia. They are in five-team group comprising South Korea, Kazakhstan, China and North Korea.
MEN’S TEAM
Goalkeeper: Kamaljeet Singh, Bajrang Thakur, Atul; Right back: Harinder Singh, Kamaljeet Singh; Centre back: Karamjeet Singh, Deepak Ahlawat; Left back: Devinder Singh, Harjinder Singh; Right wing: Navdeep, Naveen Punia; Pivot: Ramesh Chandra, Avin Khatkar, Grainage; Left wing: N Aditya, Rahul Dubey. Support staff: Shivaji Sindhu (chief coach); Bhuwan Bhatt (coach); Naveen Kumar Das (manager).