Sundeep Misra
It’s been fun covering sport, writing, analysing, meeting, experiencing the good and the bad both in myself and the world of sport. Some journeys are particularly satisfying, the one covering nine consecutive hockey World Cups, seeing generations of players and coaches, the ideas exchanged, travelling to Malaysia, especially, for the more than 12 Sultan Azlan Shah tournaments, Junior World Cup finals, Hockey League Finals, five Champions Trophies, three Asian Athletic Championships, three Commonwealth Games, three Asian Games, four Olympic Games and the 2017 World Athletic Championships. Yet, the one thing that makes my pulse race is always the middle distance running and the 3000m steeplechase – a combination of skill, endurance and tactical nous.
I have covered two cricket World Cups and reported from overseas tours. I have also written for newspapers, magazines and websites such as India Today, Indian Express, Asian Age, Firstpost, Caravan, Khaleej Times, Mid-day, The Tribune and fifytwo.in.
Plus stints as Sports Editor of newspapers like Asian Age, TV stations like Sahara Samay and News X and digital platforms like news9live.com
One tenure I did enjoy in particular and extremely proud of it was being Founding Editor-in-Chief of Sports Illustrated India. It was an exciting time especially interacting with the SI editors in New York when I visited or the constant weekly phone meetings.
The allure of field hockey has always captivated me, leading me to put my thoughts and experiences about the game into words through writing
HOCKEY AND I
It’s very hard for me to explain what it is about field hockey that has held my interest for the past three decades. Back in 1997, I brought out India’s first and last magazine dedicated to Hockey. We hit a circulation of 10,000 plus, quite remarkable for a hockey magazine in a nation where people believed only cricket sells. Also covered the 1998 Hockey World Cup, Utrecht, Netherlands and the 2000 Olympic Games, Sydney. This was my first stint as an entrepreneur. Ran the magazine till 2000. It was too ahead of its time. So, no surprises then, I wrote two books on hockey. In 2015, the unauthorized biography of hockey legend Dhanraj Pillay titled ‘Forgive me Amma” was published. The other book on hockey is ‘The Mohammed of Benares and other stories’, released in Dhaka during the Asian Hockey Championships in 2020. This was my third book. My second book was India’s first Anthology on Sports writing - ‘The Best of Indian Sports Writing’ that brought together India’s 16 finest sports writers. It came out in 2014. It was a great experience. Need to bring out more anthologies since there is a profusion of sports books now. My fourth book - Fiercely Female - a biography of Indian woman athlete Dutee Chand, national 100m record holder and the 2018 Asian Games double silver medallist at the 100m and 200m was published by Westland, Amazon
Hockey & I
THE ALLURE OF FIELD HOCKEY HAS ALWAYS CAPTIVATED ME, LEADING ME TO PUT MY THOUGHTS AND EXPERIENCES ABOUT THE GAME INTO WORDS THROUGH WRITING
It’s very hard for me to explain what it is about field hockey that has held my interest for the past three decades. Back in 1997, I brought out India’s first and last magazine dedicated to Hockey. We hit a circulation of 10,000 plus, quite remarkable for a hockey magazine in a nation where people believed only cricket sells. Also covered the 1998 Hockey World Cup, Utrecht, Netherlands and the 2000 Olympic Games, Sydney. This was my first stint as an entrepreneur. Ran the magazine till 2000. It was too ahead of its time. So, no surprises then, I wrote two books on hockey.
In 2015, the unauthorized biography of hockey legend Dhanraj Pillay titled ‘Forgive me Amma” was published. The other book on hockey is ‘The Mohammed of Benares and other stories’, released in Dhaka during the Asian Hockey Championships in 2020. This was my third book.
My second book was India’s first Anthology on Sports writing – ‘The Best of Indian Sports Writing’ that brought together India’s 16 finest sports writers. It came out in 2014. It was a great experience. Need to bring out more anthologies since there is a profusion of sports books now.
My fourth book – Fiercely Female – a biography of Indian woman athlete Dutee Chand, national 100m record holder and the 2018 Asian Games double silver medallist at the 100m and 200m was published by Westland, Amazon
Hockey & I
I do keep my fascination for the 3000m steeplechase under wraps but it’s the allure of field hockey that captivates me. From the time of the 1989 Gwalior National Championships to the recently concluded 2023 World Cup, there is not much I didn’t cover, write or watched (if I wasn’t travelling). Off late, analytics, numbers and the reasons why certain things happen or don’t happen are fascinating – the possibility of a book, who knows!
So, no surprises then, I wrote two books on hockey.
In 2015, the unauthorized biography of hockey legend Dhanraj Pillay titled ‘Forgive me Amma’ was published. The other book on hockey is ‘The Mohammed of Benares and other stories’, released in Dhaka during the Asian Hockey Championships in 2020. This was my third book.
My second book was India’s first Anthology on Sports writing – ‘The Best of Indian Sports Writing’ that brought together India’s 16 finest sports writers. It came out in 2014. It was a wonderful experience. Need to bring out more anthologies since there is a profusion of sports books now.
My fourth book – ‘Fiercely Female’ – a biography of Indian woman athlete Dutee Chand, national 100m record holder and the 2018 Asian Games double silver medallist at the 100m and 200m was published by Westland, Amazon.
It’s difficult to explain what it is about field hockey that has held my interest for the past three decades when as an intern I covered four back-to-back Ranji matches. Or maybe, when in 1990, I took a train to Lahore from Old Delhi station to cover the 1990 Lahore World Cup, cast such a spell, that I couldn’t ever break free from it. Maybe, I never wanted to. One of the reasons why, way back in 1997, I brought out India’s first and last magazine dedicated to Hockey, ‘Inside Hockey’ and believe it or not we hit a circulation of 10,000 plus, quite remarkable for a hockey magazine in a nation where people believed only cricket sells. In a unique way, my first stint as an entrepreneur.
Sundeep Misra
Being a sports author or reporter is not just about writing about the game, about any sport, siding up to sport stars, players, it’s about living it, writing freely, not being biased and conveying to the readers a honest reportage.
It’s difficult at times with today’s mix of commercialisation and journalism, yet, completely possible. I have always felt very strongly about one thing – the closer you get to players, the worse your reportage/journalism gets. I have experienced it, burnt my fingers, felt let-down and the day I threw off this that ‘to do a good interview, you have to be friends first’ I felt so much better. In a world of insta/twitter, it’s easy to get swayed. Eventually I believed, keep doing your work and the number of followers are not the measuring scale on which you would be read, respected. I do believe it.
Ultimately, the most fascinating thing about sports writing is to understand the how and why a team wins rather than who wins.
