ASIA MUST STOP DWELLING IN THE PAST - FORMER INDIAN SKIPPER

JOHOR BAHARU (Malaysia), July 1 (Bernama) -- Asian hockey must forget about
their glorious past and go back to the drawing board and start all over again in
order to recapture lost international supremacy.

Former Indian skipper Ajit Pal Singh who skippered his country to the
1975 World Cup triumph in Kuala Lumpur, believes, unless Asia was prepared to
break away completely from its past tradition in terms of their style of play,
mentality and approach, Asian countries will continue to struggle against
European opponents.

"The Asian brand of hockey as we know, rely on dribbling and fancy
stick work which has no relevance in present day hockey, dominated by the
Europeans.

"What individual skills? There is no place and no need for it today. You
have to keep the ball moving all the time now, especially when playing on turf,
there is no need to dribble to get into the D box.

"What you need is therefore speed and more speed, plus the accuracy to
direct the ball, where you want it to be," said the 62 year-old, Ajit, who is
here on a short holiday.

Ajit who lives in New Delhi is the chairman of the Indian Hockey
Federation's selection committee and played a key role in India's bid to host
the World Cup in the Indian capital next year.

Apart from lamenting the fitness level of Asian teams, Ajit added that the
introduction of turf, had changed the entire complexion of the game.

"Turf is punishing. The ball moves so fast and you have to be physically
strong to keep up with the movement of the ball. These days I notice that Asian
teams tend to start a tournament well but as it goes on, their fitness level
drops.

"Then again you need to be playing on turf at a very early age to get used
to it but the lack of turf pitches, especially in India and Pakistan, the two
former world powers, is hampering progress.

"The same goes to Malaysia. You used to have such a formidable team at
junior and senior level and I remember when I spent three months here to help
the Johor state Hockey Association in the mid eighties, it was really an
exciting period because I saw many talented players with the potential to go
far.

"Gone are the days when the Europeans were afraid of the Asians, especially
the Indians and the Pakistanis. We must start all over again, discard our old
mentality and our approach towards the game.

"Forward thinking and be prepared to do some catching up with the Europeans
and the Australians," added Ajit.

That's the road Asian hockey must take to salvage their reputation again, he
said.
--BERNAMA