Hockey bronze through the eyes of its youngest member Vivek Sagar Prasad
CHENNAI: In January 2018, he became the second-youngest Indian man to represent the senior hockey team. Three months later, at Gold Coast in Australia, he was the youngest ever to be picked in the men’s team for a Commonwealth Games.
In that same year, he also led the Indian team to a silver medal in the 2018 Youth Olympics (in hockey 5s). Now, Vivek Sagar Prasad is an Olympic bronze medallist at 21. It is perhaps natural progression for a player who has been earmarked for grand feats right from the time he picked up a hockey stick in the nondescript lanes of Itarsi in Madhya Pradesh.
The 21-year-old – youngest member of India’s bronze-winning band in Tokyo – is blessed with precocious gifts. His quick movement, ball skills and acceleration, which he describes as his strengths, help him strut around on the field with a refreshing swagger and confidence. And he can now carry that confidence wherever he goes, given the team’s rewarding journey over the past few weeks in Tokyo.
The players have returned home to a grand welcome and the felicitations are not ceasing. Prasad was part of one such felicitation in Bhopal on Thursday, where the Madhya Pradesh government promised that they will build him a home and offered him the post of DSP in the state police unit. Prasad can’t stop beaming at all the attention that his sport is attracting.
“The experience of my first Olympics was great since we came back with a medal. I am feeling very proud. Hockey will get a lot more support and followers now. That will increase our confidence level further and make us keen to do even better. We have set a benchmark now. We will look to raise the bar higher,” Prasad said during an interaction on Thursday.
For the senior players in the team like PR Sreejesh and Manpreet Singh, the medal in Tokyo came after years of heartbreak and disappointment. The newer generation, of course, may not be able to fully resonate with those emotions, but they drew on the experiences of the veterans and were aware of the value associated with an Olympic medal.
“I wouldn't say my emotions were too different. The seniors had shared their experiences from the previous two Olympics. They had said that we shouldn't be happy with merely becoming Olympians. They wanted the mentality to change and for us to aim for a medal. Their experience came in handy. I also had experience of losing the semifinals at CWG and Asian Games in 2018,” he explained.
Beyond the immediate high and adulation, the hope now will be for Indian hockey to build on this success and rewind to their trophy-laden days. Despite his young age, Prasad seems to be aware of the sport’s rich and glorious tradition in this country. It is the influence of his coach Ashok Kumar, a great player in his own right and the son of the legendary Dhyan Chand.
“I am definitely aware of our history. Ashok sir shares his experiences with us and the low moments that he faced in his career. He tells us, ‘There will be more failures than success in our careers.’ That is how a sportsperson's life is. What you learn from those failures is important.”
So far in his fledgling international career, Prasad has faced more highs than lows. But as and when those troughs arrive, Prasad is well placed to dribble past them with the same ease that he shows on the hockey field.