TN set to break 13-year duck after Mareeswaran, Karthi selected in national team

CHENNAI: WHEN Mareeswaran Sakthivel was growing up in Kovilpatti, he frequently saw himself wearing the India jersey, with a hockey stick in hand and being the engine room in midfield. It was, by any measure, a far-fetched idea. Kovilpatti, a small town next to Madurai, is a hockey-crazy town. However, it's remained a speck on India's hockey map. More so, Tamil Nadu players don't break into the national team. You can count the players from the state to have played for the country since 2004 in one hand and still have spare fingers left. S Karthi, from Ariyalur, has been in the junior national camp since 2020. Like Mareeswaran, Karthi also dreamed lofty dreams.

Now, both Mareeswaran and Karthi have been selected to play for India at the upcoming Asia Cup in Indonesia. When they make their senior debuts — Hockey India named an 'India A' team on Monday but this is very much a senior event — in Jakarta later this month, they will become the first players from Tamil Nadu to don the national jersey since Gunasekar and Naveen did in 2009. "I was told about this only this (Monday) afternoon," Mareeswaran told this daily. "I have been smiling ever since I found out. Just one of happiness. Happy. I have worked towards this for a long time. All that hard work has paid off. Now the focus is utilising this chance and hopefully I can play for the main team going forward."  

He picked up hockey because the one sport Kovilpatti regularly hosted was hockey. "When I was small, my father (he works at a matchstick factory) used to take me to a lot of hockey games. That's how I started to watch the sport." He's also looking forward to playing with state-mate Karthi. "We didn't play in any age-group tournaments for the state but we played together at the junior nationals in 2019. I know him well," he said.

Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu president, Sekar J Manoharan, was ecstatic. "After 12-13 years, we finally have two players who have been selected. This is great news. I would say 3-4 years ago, the state had a good batch of juniors and you are seeing the proof of that. Hopefully, this is the start of a long association."

With Hockey India opting to field a weakened side at the Asia Cup to lighten the workload of some of the players, Rupinder Pal Singh made an expected return as captain with Birendra Lakra his deputy (both the players had retired after the Olympics). What remains to be seen is if HI will stick to their plans of sending this team for the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

Squad: Goalkeepers: Pankaj Kumar Rajak, Suraj Karkera. Defenders: Rupinder Pal Singh (C), Yashdeep Siwach, Abhisek Lakra, Birendra Lakra, Manjeet, Dipsan Tirkey. Midfielders: Vishnukant Singh, Raj Kumar Pal, Mareeswaren Sakthivel, Sheshe Gowda BM, Simranjeet Singh. Forwards: Pawan Rajbhar, Abharan Sudev, SV Sunil, Uttam Singh, S Karthi.  
Replacement Players: Maninder Singh, Nilam Sanjeep Xess.