Over the past couple of months, the sports headlines have been dominated by the IPL, for a number of reasons, good and bad, but the national sport, that I follow with equal interest, made an appearance thanks to the infamous sting and the aftermath. After appointing the 5 wise men, the results have changed immediately and thankfully, this time for the good.

India just finished runners-up to a strong Argentine side in the recent Sultan Azlan Shah tournament in Malaysia - coverage from rediff here. While the immediate reaction might be to think that the departure of Gill and co automatically saw the departure of hangers-on and the introduction of genuine talent, it has been widely quoted that the team which was sent is pretty much the same one as before barring a few changes.

The reason that I can immediately attribute though is the emergence of the drag flicker Sandeep Singh, who has been consistent throughout the tournament, and has produced goal after goal through penalty corners which have traditionally been India’s achilles heal, and as a bonus is extremely good at defence too.

For hockey aficianados, India’s runner up performance in a tournament which arguably had few very strong teams, would not really count as a highlight, but considering the tumultous events of the past few weeks, I would sincerely hope it is a case of daylight at last!

First Posted at Prem Panicker's on May 19, 2008.