New Delhi, June 16: Amidst apprehension that Hockey 5s will slowly replace the 11-a-side format and make the latter obsolete, the world body (FIH) has assured that it won’t let the shortest version take precedence over the traditional style, saying the new version is a “brilliant tale of evolution”.
The Indian hockey fraternity also appears excited to see the new ‘avatar’ of the game, which, it feels, would attract the youth towards the sport.
Following India’s success in Lausanne, where the team won a Hockey5s event earlier this month, the murmurs began over the future of traditional format.
But FIH CEO Thierry Weil made it clear that Hockey 5s is just an addition to the traditional format to make the game more popular. “Hockey 5s is definitely a welcome addition to the traditional version of the game. All we need right now is a much-needed boost that the game of hockey deserves and Hockey 5s is there to provide it,” Weil told PTI in an exclusive interview.
“We are extremely hopeful that the steady emergence of Hockey5s will immensely benefit hockey in the years to come. That said, we will never let Hockey 5s take precedence over the traditional version of the game. We will never let that happen.
“Rather, Hockey 5s will be a gateway to the age-old format. The shortest format, once implemented regularly, will bring in a massive change to the game of hockey. We have understood that and that is reason, we are eagerly promoting Hockey 5s,” the FIH CEO insisted.
Weil believes both the formats can co-exist, which will definitely be a boon for the game. “The birth of Hockey 5s is a brilliant tale of evolution that hockey as a sport has witnessed over the last few years. This can be a game-changer in the coming days.
If one closely tracks the evolution of hockey, it is difficult to find any radical change. The Synthetic Revolution happened at the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games and it is now mandatory to use artificial turf in almost all major international tournaments.
“The FIH has already planned to host the inaugural edition of the Hockey 5s World Cup in Oman in January 2024. The overall aim of this new version is to make hockey more popular than before,” said Weil.
Hockey 5s, the sport’s shortest version which made its senior debut very recently in Lausanne, is all about fast-paced and short matches, lesser number of players involved, and most importantly, the overall vibe, which many believe will largely attract a newer pool of audience – the youth.
Hockey 5s requires the teams to field five players including the goalkeeper. A match has two halves of 10 minutes each and each team can make four substitutions. (PTI)
