They can’t take this casually: Tirkey on India’s dismal Pro League

ROURKELA: Losing all their four matches in the Pro League — including an 8-0 thrashing by Argentina — conceding 19 goals while scoring just five, the Indian men’s hockey team’s start to the year was beyond anything anyone would have expected.

India’s performance left the fans shocked and led Hockey India president Dilip Tirkey to come down hard on the team, especially the seniors. “All the players, especially the seniors, should play with this in mind that the winner of the Pro League will qualify for the 2028 LA Olympics,” said Tirkey.



“They cannot take this casually because if they would have played properly you couldn’t have lost 0-8,” he added.

Barring Hardik Singh, who seemed to be the only one trying to make a difference, the seniors indeed failed to step up when needed.

Coach Craig Fulton was expectedly unhappy with the results but with his focus on development and picking the squad for the Asian Games and World Cup, he kept changing the team every game and handed debuts to three players – Amandeep Lakra, Manmeet Singh and Rosan Kujur.

“I gave a lot of game time to the India A players against top opposition because Belgium and Argentina are not easy teams. I am also at the discovery phase as to what we need in a squad to compete at the World Cup and win the Asian Games,” the coach said after the game on Sunday.

While he pointed out that India’s finishing was poor and that the team created very few chances and penalty corners, the defence too looked out of sorts. Every opposition attack seemed likely to result in a goal.

Is it too early to start worrying because even in 2024 after losing to Australia 0-5 in the Tests, India went on to win bronze at the Paris Olympics. Last year India went on to win the Asia Cup after they lost seven games in a row in the Pro League during the Europe leg.

For now, the focus shifts to Hobart where India will play their first match against Spain on Saturday. One group of players already reached last week and the remaining group began their journey in the wee hours of Monday after Sunday’s match.

While Fulton’s focus will once again be on squad development and finding the right chemistry, it will be challenging considering Sukhjeet Singh picked up an injury and had to be replaced by Araijeet Singh Hundal at the last moment.

Also, Harmanpreet Singh is likely to be rested for personal reasons. He also got injured during the Hockey India League and needs to work more on recovery.

Hopefully, Fulton will still be able to achieve what he wants in Hobart, but he understands the frustration these losses have caused. “The expectation and the frustration are real. But judge us on the big tournaments. Now we’re in a different place to the two other teams that we play,” added the coach.

It’s certainly a tough ask, but with the bigger picture in mind, there’s little else that can be done.



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