Panposh, school at heart of Odisha revolution

Indervir Grewal

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Rourkela, January 18

Gregory Xess and his friends had to level a patch of the farmland to play hockey as children at their village Kesramal. This sort of craze for the sport is not uncommon in Odisha’s Sundargarh district. It is unusual, though, that a village in the region, the driving force behind hockey in the state, didn’t have a hockey ground.

But it didn’t stop Xess, now 22, from finding a place in the junior India camp. As a 14-year-old, Xess made his way into the historic state-run Panposh hockey academy in Rourkela, gaining access to facilities, including the synthetic turf, and coaching that were completely new to him.

Jiwan Kishori Toppo’s journey has been similar. Though the 20-year-old had a playing ground at her village Kukuda, the facilities were nowhere close to what she experienced at the Rourkela academy. After training at Panposh for most of her teenage life, she too managed to get into the junior national camp.

It is no wonder that in its recent push to make Odisha the top hockey state in India, the government is banking on the academy that has produced multiple Olympians from Dilip Tirkey to Amit Rohidas since its inception in 1985.

Olympian Lazarus Barla was put in charge of the academy in 2019. Last year, the government hired BJ Kariappa, who was for long involved with the national team set-up, as the academy’s coach, and David John, the former high performance director of Indian hockey, as the director of hockey in the state.

Using the World Cup as the jump-off point, John tried to motivate the trainees with a speech after a morning training session. “You are getting to watch the world’s best teams. The government has built one of the best stadiums. This is all to inspire you,” the Australian said.

Apart from the construction of Birsa Munda Stadium, where the boys’ centre will be shifted after the World Cup, both the pitches at the Panposh academy have also been re-laid.

The new infrastructure is just the first step, John said, as he acknowledged that the centre lacked a modern approach in training. “When you go to watch the World Cup matches, I want you to analyse what makes a player or a team the best in the world,” he told the trainees.

Clearly, the focus is on making them tactically more mature. But they also need scientific backing. “After the World Cup, you will get six new coaches, two strength and conditioning coaches, two physiotherapists and one video analyst,” he added.

The scientific centre will be set up at the Birsa Munda Stadium, and will be used for other sports as well. The facility will eventually become a high performance centre but John emphasised that his real work started at the grassroots level. Keeping that in mind, the government has put in synthetic turfs in all the 17 blocks of the Sundargarh district. Xess’ village has missed out but the adjacent Kukuda has got one.

John wants to use this expansion to tap into the district’s “vast” talent. “The intention is to start a league, with every turf becoming a club, and matches played on the weekends all over the district. This will also help us in scouting new talent for the Rourkela centre,” John said.

John realised that one of his major short-term challenges was to bring accountability into the selection system. “There are trainees who have been here for over six years but haven’t even played for the state team. That will change with the club system. With matches every week, players will have to perform to keep their places,” John said.

Also standing in John’s way is the government red tape. With the kind of money being spent around, it is a surprise to find out that the trainees get Rs 500 per month each as pocket money. Incidentally, during the trainees’ interaction with John, they complained about not having received the money in some time. Also, they only get running shoes — which are not fit for playing on the hockey turf – because of a sports department policy.

John said a new administration will be put in place to run the scheme. “We will have a new administration. Over 50 persons from around India will be recruited for various jobs,” John said.

However, finding qualified coaches and sports scientists from within India will be a big challenge. “The club system will also help develop coaches in the district,” John said.

Despite the challenges, John sounded excited and confident that the future of hockey in Odisha was promising.

Disputes

While the Odisha government has spared no expense in the promotion of hockey — allegedly spending over Rs 10 billion to host the World Cup — it also faces criticism from many quarters for overlooking other issues. During a visit to the Panposh hockey centre in Rourkela, it was revealed that the locals have still not received compensation for the land used for setting up the academy. “The centre came into being in 1985 and we are still waiting for our money. We are still fighting a battle in the court,” a local said.

It has also been alleged that the money being spent on hockey in the Sundargarh district, which is rich in iron and coal ore, is actually for the welfare of the local communities affected by mining.