Bengaluru: Rahul Dravidthe former hockey player, famously gave up the stick and continued to weave magic with the willow. Almost 40 years later, with a stick in hand, he can catch the ball accurately and place the ball well. The former Indian captain and coach, who played in one school team – St. Joseph’s Boys High School – like former international hockey players Anil Aldrin and Sandeep Somesh, they count hockey as one of their favorite sports. Speaking at the inauguration of the inter-college hockey tournament commemorating the platinum success of his alma mater, St Joseph’s College of Commerce (SJCC), here on Friday, Dravid reminisced about his days on the hockey field.“I played a lot of hockey in school. I had the opportunity to play with people like Anil Aldrin and Sandeep Somesh for two reasons. First, we were a strong team and we won competitions like the Centenary Shield and Father Eric Vaz inter-school tournaments because of these two boys. Also, it was a good lesson for me because when I saw them playing or playing with them, “Dr realized that playing cricket was good, “Dr.Incidentally, Dravid and Somesh both played as midfielders, while 1996 Atlanta Olympian Aldrin was a defender. The 53-year-old Dravid said hockey played an important role in his formative years. “I loved playing hockey. It was a great team sport. India has an amazing history, heritage and culture of hockey,” he said.
Dravid also hailed the resurgence of Indian hockey after the men’s team won bronze medals at the Paris and Tokyo Olympics. “We were not able to reach the level with the standards we had before, but I am happy that we have been doing well recently. There is a revival of hockey,” he said.The two-day hockey tournament, which has attracted 17 teams, has been organized by SJCC’s Old Students’ Association (OSA) and Yes For Hockey. The tournament is timely to revive the hockey community, which has been in decline for years.Praising the OSA’s efforts, Dravid said, “They have been very keen to try to revive hockey and get more young people to play, which is very important because it is the most amazing sport that they can have.