Chennai: Padmashri V Baskaran is the captain when India last won a gold medal in Hockey at the 1980 Olympics in Moscow.
The very skilled left half of the days of play, Baskaran is active in Chennai, training young people and manages the hockey tournament before Covid crashes.
The coaches who were decorated and the Award-winning Arjuna, Baskaran, who were the main coach of the men’s team at the Sydney Olympics and retired as senior sports officials with Indian trains, spoke to Ivers on the prospect of the Indian team at the Tokyo Olympics.
The Indian Hockey team plays at the Tokyo Olympics.
As the captain of the winning team at the Moscow Olympics and a trained coach, how good our team’s chances are striking big in Tokyo? We deserve to be on the podium as among the 11 other countries playing at the Olympics, we prepared well even with the Covid-19 pandemic situation.
The players were very motivated and stayed in Bangalore for nine months before the Olympics and it was (because) tires and mere grit.
Indian Sports Authority (SAI) and Indian Hockey have extended all support and assistance to the welfare of their players and comfort during the training period.
What are your suggestions and suggestions for the Indian team? The team must match the match and the first target must reach the quarter-finals.
From the quarter-finals and so on, everything will be different because KO starts here.
Our main strength is a conversion of a penalty angle because we have three specialists in this field – HarmanPreet, RupindPal, and Amit Rohidas.
PR Sreejesh is a very talented goalkeeper with sufficient skills and experiences when he plays his third Olympics.
Players must hold on to the plan (match).
The Indian team is a mixture of youth and experience and therefore I feel it can be finished on the podium.
How do you think you have to change for India to become a world leader in hockey again? We need to compile our hockey show like a club football tournament in Europe.
All major clubs in Europe have under 14, under 16, and under 18 tournaments, and from this tournament, talented and skilled players, with a lot of capacity for hard work that appears at the senior level.
We must be professional in developing our sports.
Amateurism and semi-burn knowledge are harmful to sports, including hockey.
Do you have suggestions for creating interest among children in hockey and other sports? Radical changes are needed at the school level to identify and maintain talented sportsmen.
Sports should not be an extracurricular activity, on the contrary, must be mandatory and every child must play and participate in two sports on his school days.
Even parents must be educated about the importance of sports for children.
Sports must be given the same interests and excellence as education and if we survive this, such as Chinese, Japanese and Australian players will emerge from school, which can be maintained and prepared to become a world-class player.
Please share your memory about the Olympics as a player and coach? I enjoyed my playing career and also became a hockey coach.
The Olympics have given me some beautiful memories.
I met Ken Nortan, Mohammed Ali, Sebastian Coe, Roger Federer, John Mcenroe, and Usain Bolt at the Olympics during my days as players and coaches.
I also have the opportunity to interact with our great interact like Milkha Singh, Balbir Singh (SR), Dhyan Chand, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Abhinaav Bindra, Karnam Malleswari, P.T.
Usha, and Wilson Shiny.
What is the biggest point in your sports career? Winning the Olympic Golden Hockey for India in Moscow was the biggest moment in my career.
I hope Indian parents will support sports more and instill sports culture in their children.