Stan Rayan: National hockey loses a piece of its history

Stan Rayan: National hockey loses a piece of its history: "The Rangaswami Cup has been associated with India's National Hockey Championship for six decades but when Hockey India ’s new national champ..."

National hockey loses a piece of its history

The Rangaswami Cup has been associated with India's National Hockey

Championship for six decades but when Hockey India’s new national

championship begins in Bhopal on Friday, it will be played without the

sport’s most prestigious trophy.

The tussle between Hockey India, the new apex body for the sport in

the country  recognised by the world body FIH and the Indian Olympic

Association, and the Indian Hockey Federation which governed the sport

earlier, has virtually pushed the Rangaswami Cup out of the picture.

“It’s not the Rangaswami Cup this time,” said Mariamma Koshy, the

interim president of Hockey India, on Thursday evening. “This is our

first men’s national, we’re going for something new.”

The national championship without the Rangaswami Cup sounds a bit odd.

Like how football’s nationals would be without the Santosh Trophy.

Mumbai, which won the last national championship, the 63rd edition in

Bhopal, now holds the cup.

Interesting history

There is an interesting piece of history behind the Rangaswami Cup.

When the National Championship came to Chennai in 1951, the event did

not have a winner’s trophy. The Maori Shield, a memento presented by

the New Zealand Hockey Association to the wizards of Indian hockey

during their visit to that country in 1935, was the official trophy

that was given to the national champions in the mid 1940s but the

trophy was lost in the confusion of partition.

The Hindu's trophy

It was a period when India ruled world hockey, winning all the four

Olympic golds  between 1928 and 1948, and the lack of a trophy in the

sport came to the notice of Kasturi Srinivasan, then the Editor of The

Hindu.

Mr Kasturi Srinivasan offered a handsome silver trophy, named in the

memory of S.Rangaswami, one of The Hindu’s finest editors and a fine

hockey player.

Had it been around, the Rangaswami Cup would have celebrated its

diamond jubilee this year.

Now, along with the missing trophy, hockey could lose a lot of its history.

With a new national championship coming into being, what will happen

to the event’s old records? Will a piece of the golden period of

Indian hockey, and its stars, be forgotten under the dust of history.

“We are keeping track of all the old players, we will also have a

history of Indian hockey and mention the different stages of changes,”

said Mrs Mariamma Koshy.
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Gaurav Gill on why he is slipping this year

He has driven in the World Championship and also came very close to the Asia-Pacific title a few weeks ago. With wins in the Asia-Pacific Championship's Indonesian round last year and this year's Australian leg, Gaurav Gill has proved that he is certainly something special.

The best Indian by many miles.

But when it comes to the Indian National Rally Championship, Team MRF's Gill, the defending champion, is going through a very disappointing season. He broke a jinx when he won the season-opening Rally of Maharashtra at Nashik for the first time, but failed to finish the next three rounds, in Coimbatore, Jodhpur and Bangalore.

So, what has gone wrong?

“We've been struggling with our cars' set-up, there are some serious problems with our differentials,” said the 29-year-old on Wednesday evening, soon after landing in Kochi for the Misty Meadows Rally of Kerala which begins in Idukki on Friday.

“Nobody is beating us, we are losing ourselves,” said the country's first Asia-Pacific Championship runner-up.

“If we get good reliability, we can do well. I've been putting a lot of pressure and the workshop guys are doing their job but they are unable to sort out the matter.”

Jumping from the international series to the Indian circuit also means that Gaurav gets very little time for testing the cars.

“I've been travelling so much, am unable to do any testing,” said the Delhi-based star.

Gill, however, is hopeful that Kerala will see a change in his fortunes. “The new rally is good for drivers like me because nobody has an advantage. It's more challenging.”

So, can he make a comeback and catch up with the leaders with the next two rounds in Kerala and Hyderabad?

“Why not,” said Gill, whose co-driver is the seasoned Musa Sherif. “Speed is never an issue. We actually need a victory to change the scene. But if we don't win this round, our chance of winning the title virtually goes away.”

Red Rooster Racings's V.R. Naren Kumar (30 points) and Vikram Mathias (27), both former National champions, and MRF's Arjun Rao Aroor (26), the winner of the chaotic K-1000 Rally in Bangalore a few days ago, currently occupy the top three spots this season. Gaurav has just 16 points from his Nashik rally triumph, also his lone finish this year.

He is looking forward to returning to the Production Cars World Championship next year.

“I'm always looking for money to get back to the WRC,” said Gaurav.