Last year in HIL, Bhubaneswar had phenomenal crowd While crowd in Delhi has been poor except when India is playing. So FIH Head who saw HIL recommended Bhubaneswar as the venue instead of Delhi.
Madras (Chennai) has hosted Champions Trophy twice but it was because of efforts of Jyothikumaran.
You could see srilanka send 2nd string team along wid dilshan,sangakara,jaywardhane against india in cricket but still its their national team playing so likewise there is no point in lamenting that india def. 2Nd string australian team...anyway india def. Aus. After 4 years. Last win was in 2010 azlan shah hockey where india won 4-3 ..before that india last won in 2003...so 7 year gap and now 4year gap ended...
India sent a clear msg. That if strong nation have to beat india they hav to play at their ful strength team wheather its aus or germany....they cant experiment against india...hockey on rise ..afterall india is regional asian champion
Nah I see it the other way round..Aussie developmental team beat us 4-0..when our dev teams will beat their senior team by 4-0 or loose 1-0,2-1 then I will say Indian hockey is on rise..or when we beat them in a major competition not friendlies..then only
Australia is winner in last 5 editions of Champions Trophy. They are just unlucky in Olympics-only 1 Gold Medal in 2004 Athens Olympics. It will be interesting to know whether Australia will send their young squad for Champions Trophy. Most of their stars are touching 30 plus like Turner, Hammond, Knowles, Liam de Yound, Dwyer. Their squad was together for a long time and maybe a time has come for new blood.
India Team is pretty young, this present team can go on for 3-4 years easily. Only problem is Sardara Singh who is way way older then his official 28 years age.
Comments
Both sides are warming up for next month champions Trophy at Bhubaneswar, Odisha. It will be interesting tournament for India Hockey Team.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Men%27s_Hockey_Champions_Trophy
Netherlands, Germany and Argentina are in India's Group.
Madras (Chennai) has hosted Champions Trophy twice but it was because of efforts of Jyothikumaran.
India Team is pretty young, this present team can go on for 3-4 years easily. Only problem is Sardara Singh who is way way older then his official 28 years age.
:P