Just over a year ago, pandemonium prevailed in Indian Hockey as the frequent hire and fire policy by the board left the side in tatters. At the time, the Rio Olympics was just a year away and in came Roelant Oltmans, one of the greatest coaches of modern times. Shrugging off the hasty, ego-centric decisions taken by the board, the Dutchman has calmed the waters. After capitulating to a surprising 1-4 defeat to Spain, one wonders if this is the beginning of a downward spiral for the side.
The problems are not just at the top. The Indians had to deal with an unnecessary distraction in Sardar Singh's alleged off-field misdemeanours, which resulted in a change in guard at the 11th hour. Luckily, in PR Sreejesh, they found a leader who can galvanise the team, and command respect at the same time.
India's recent run
Cynics cried out that the tag of being the first team to qualify for the Olympics may have mislead the supporters. However, there is no taking away the fact that over the last two years, India have tasted a fair amount of success, despite the coaching merry-go-round in the years gone by. Oltman's appointment to the post last year was preceded by the unceremonious exits of Jose Brasa, Michael Nobbs ,Terry Walsh and Paul van Ass.
However, in the last seven months, India managed to clinch their first ever Champions Trophy medal, going down only on penalties in the final against the mighty Australians. In addition to that, they also managed to clinch the Sultan Azlan Shah Trophy.
There were other big events too where India proved their mettle. There were medals in the 2014 Asian Games and Commonwealth Games, the former resulting in a gold and booking their berth to Rio. However, the competition might have not been anywhere close to what they will experience in Rio.
The bad days
But in between some creditable highs over the last two years, there have also been times when the team has taken a hiding. The crushing 2-6 loss suffered at the hands of the Aussies in the Hockey World League still rankles.
The results ahead of Rio have been far from ideal too. Prior to their friendly match against Spain, the Indians had been walloped 0-4 by Germany and humbled 0-1 by New Zealand before regaining some pride against Argentina and Ireland. The Argentina match, which finished 3-3, saw Oltmans's side come from behind to draw level.
Everything to gain, little to lose
There are many who are optimistic about the side's chances. Some ex-players, like former skipper Viren Rasquinha have rubbished any hopes of the side winning a medal. Yes, there is a lot of history to look back on, being the most successful medal-winning side in the Olympics.
Ireland and Poland in the past have shown that giant-killing acts are very much a possibility come August. The Irish made India sweat recently. With a solid nucleus of SV Sunil, Sardar, Ramandeep, VR Raghunath, SK Uthappa, and young forward Ramandeep Singh, a better showing than the wretched London 2012 tourney is on the cards. The new format might just do them a favour.