🇮🇳 On Thin Ice: India's National Ice Hockey Team | 101 East
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 ก.พ. 2025
- India is a country where cricket is a religion and the players are seen as gods.
But it's also a place where a ragtag team of 22 men are fighting to put their sport - ice hockey - on the map. Based in Ladakh, in India's picturesque snowy north, India's little-known national ice hockey team may not have fame, fortune or even much of a following, but what they do have is passion.
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I am an Indian and first and foremost I feel Proud to see the Determination and Struggle of these Indian Players .. but its very sad that most of Indian doesn't know about them.. Its shameful that we only likes to see Cricket and nothing more.. here in our country even a cricketer has more respect than a Olympic Gold Medalist..
I completely agree with you Jabir...and that is very unfortunate...I believe to some extent, it is the greed of the corporate world to mint money (big sponsorship etc.) through cricket i guess...
Jabir Ansari yeh and I've never even heard of cricket
Abhi - J we are supporting other sports from the last few years . ...
correction I forgot the world cup was u know the real football. then ir was the cricket T20 finals
It is sad how cultures become so fixated on a certain sport (or 2) and completely ignore other great sports. But these guys love the game and have found a source of joy they can go to throughout their lives.
As a Canadian I wish I had the money to send these guys equipment. I love seeing this kind of passion for the game. I would love the NHL, KHL, IIHF and Individual professional hockey players got behind this community and helped them out!! Grow the game.
I coach minor hockey in Canada. The city I live in has a significant Indian population so we see a lot of kids who's families originated from India and the "far east". They are just like any other kid, some are good and others, not so much. Most are very keen to learn. Last year our top player was of Indian decent, a very talented player, an aggressive competitor and great teammate. Hockey in Canada needs to embrace these kids and do more to encourage these families to sign their kids up if Canada wants to retain it's eminence in the sport.
+John Newall which city is that ?
+John Newall and the city in the doc is not from far east but far north.
+asdfgfhkjljhgfds By "far east" I meant Asia. This year we have 4 boys on our team who are of Chinese or Asian decent. They're all great kids, they love the sport and really want to be competitors. As a general observation, I would say that I've often noticed that the Asian boys may be slightly more coach-able than some of the others. They frequently have very good learning discipline, they listen, understand and then implement. They tend to be very respectful of the coaches and don't goof off as much as some of the other boys, of course there are exceptions here too.
As an Indian, I feel proud of these amazing athletes from Ladakh for pursuing their passion in the midst of all the scarcities and adversities. Hope the Govt. promotes it. Being practiced in these high altitudes, these guys are sure to have world class endurance and athletic prowess, we can, for sure, hope to have a world class team in this sport ,which in turn will project to the world India's diversity in culture and sport...... You Guys are awesome !!! ......Kudos to Al Jazeera for this wonderful piece of "authentic" journalism which sadly fails to find mention in "Indian" media's list of priorities......Don't know what sneezing accident they covered when this was shot .....
I'm Canadian, and I approve this doc!
they don't need your approval.... you guys don't even do well Nationally overall. Only recently back to back Golds... hahahaha.
you mean internationally?>
liftcarry123 oops! That's what I meant.
Noah Kim Actually, Canada is ranked #1 in the world Noah, so you should get your facts straight.
What r u talking about. We got gold in both men's and women's in Sochi and Vancouver, and we got a great under 20 team. If you mean Stanley Cup, that's because US teams outspend Canadian teams.
20:07 "The reality is India doesn't get behind a team that they know is gonna lose. They wanna get behind a team that makes them proud." That's spot on coach!
India should play in the Olympics because even if they would get crushed but it would be a way to expand the sport in India and also to give confidence to the players that play for that Indian team
Guy's training at that altitude could probably play 60 minutes on defense with no problem at sea level. LOL I love watching these Hockey documentaries from around the world.
This documentary brought tears in eyes, proud to be a LADAKHI 🙏
Hats off to all the players
This is awesome, I am Canadian and have played hockey since i was four, competing in some big tourneys. My parents are from India, and if these guys ever need a coach i'd love to help! My parents village is only 7-8 hours away, and am visiting next year!
I was always the only brown guy in div 1 lol
We expect you here in a year's time. :)
dude you better be going this year.
Did you go?
What a beautiful documentary about my country! Great many thanks to the team who made this.
This boy is today the captain of the indian ice hockey team
I never knew india had a ice hockey team. Thanks for letting me know. Will support.
I can't help but want them to succeed. They embody the true heart of hockey, you can find it anywhere there are those who sacrifice for the game but to do it so far away from the modern taj mahals of hockey in North America and Europe adds that much more to the genuine passion they have.
big respect from Finland
I feel proud to see the Indian Ice Hockey players putting in their best efforts to see the sport grow in India despite having minimal support and facilities..Kudos to you. :)
ALJAZEERA, i like to thanks for this wonderful documentary, i wish i could appreciate India, if they could see other then a bat and ball. :(
Excellent documentary. Thought it's owned by Al Jazeera, if it is broadcasted on Times of India or NDTV pages, there will tons of people willing to donate. Very few people in India are even aware of Al Jazeera and the documentary will have little impact if any.
People donated based on NDTV views.
Link : /watch?v=7qeQ-2XJob4
That's great to see huge countries like India to get involved in Ice Hockey. love to see the NHL donate some of their millions to help develop the games in these countries like India, Thailand and Kenya where they have players that want to play but don't have a regulation ice rink and equipment.
I actually saw a few players that would make pretty good high school players, even though theyre older.. Theyre better than I expected
The main thing is playing on a natural ice and said elevation.
Only 1% of cricket fund is enough to give big boost for ice hockey,,, our govt should look after this incredible sports.
U fool cricket is private and govt dont give money to them
Thanks Al Jazeera for this docu
I am from India and a huge ice hockey fan. I knew about these guys long time back and I am glad that finally they are getting the exposure they needed !
cmon NHL donate them 1% of your profits.
Can they donate 300 million USD to poor people in NA to play hockey instead?
they don't need it. there are already more than enough NA youngsters playing Hockey. We need more Asians to bring some creativity to the sport. The sport has become too dry.
do you watch hockey?
andy person who are you asking this queston to?
you
Tsewang Gyaltson has been captain of the Indian national team since the 2014-15 season. before that, he was alternate captain. anyway, how can Jofa or any of the other equipment manufacturers not be sponsoring these guys? talk about scoring the easiest goodwill points ever.
i don't think they even know about the existence of this team
this is India, the land of Buddha, the land of Krishna, the land of love!!
these are the people whom we guard at our borders from those who are ready to drink as much blood as possible for a cause that they call holy. Jai Hind!
I wish there was a way to donate, Canada, Sweden, Norway, Russia and America need new rivals and anyone practicing at that altitude will surely outplay most pros endurance wise.
You mean Finland, not Norway. The latter is not in the IIHF's Top Division.
Canada doesn't have any rivals in Hockey, Canada at this moment is simply too dominant.
facts
F Dannn Sweden might give them a run for their money
Gladiator Toast Canada has outscored Sweden 15-4 in their past 3 meetings at the senior mens level.
2014 Olympics : Canada 3, Sweden 0
2015 WC : Canada 6, Sweden 4
2016 WC : Canada 6, Sweden 0
i want to see india funding the ice hockey team. they surely deserve it
Love this sort of stuff! Seeing people passionate about the game I love all over the world. Keep your heads high and keep on going! Awesome :)
Whole India already proud of you brother, Hope you and your team will make it work in near future
This documentary is excellent and I am so proud of my friends on the Indian national team. They have worked so hard to get there, and they are amazing players and wonderful people. However, I am disappointed that Al Jazeera chose only to tell the story of the men's team and completely omitted any mention of the Indian National Women's Hockey Team who are equally as strong and are facing the same strains among others. Just as the men are fighting to get to Kyrgyzstan, the women are fighting to get to the equivalent tournament in Taipei. They exist, they are brilliant, wonderful, talented ladies and they are pushing boundaries as well. At least let the world know they exist instead of ignoring them all together. Indian hockey is not just a men's sport, yet that is the picture painted here.
One story at a time
I'm crying while watching this emotional video
Hockey in India? What MARVELOUS CHAOS!
I hope the government takes more initiative in supporting these deserving men.
Proud of my Himalayan bros I've been a professional junior played 14 years of Ice Hockey in Swiss league and half Himalayan myself 😁 🙌🏽🙌🏽 SHOULD MAKE A MOVIE OUT OF THIS!!!
What an irony, Indias national sport is hockey.
Munna Bhai their national sport is cricket
Kichirou -San Dude it's field hockey. Google it. Cricket still remains the most popular game in India.
In reply to an RTI query, Govt. of India stated that there is no national sport for India.
But not ice hockey.
@@holmescjh no..its hockey.but not ice hockey...its field hockey..
Go India Go, proud of you boys
The funniest thing is that most Indians say that hockey is their national sport, but nobody knows about this.
*****
They should team up for ice hockey. Is there more opportunity and audience for ice hockey than field hockey?
*****
Yeah
hockey in india= field hockey
If I was a billionaire I'd invest millions of dollars in building ice rinks in India. Out of a billion residents you'd could grow this country to a major hockey country. They just need the right opportunities.
Field hockey is hugely popular in india ,so lot of talent can come in from there too
Good point! I always forget about field hockey
And cricket. These are the two sports where India is a powerhouse.
+razpor ...wat about ice hockey
van miller
0.0000000001% of India's population plays ice.
thats why I watch 101 East.....real journalism.
Proud of Ladakhi people who play ice hockey in cold temperature . Where is gov of India why they don't support ice hockey team ? 😢 even people from India most of them don't know about ice hockey players are in Ladakh India and support them .
Big big big big respect for the hockey players in India
Awesome video! Should have way more views
What an excellent documentary!
they need to get a roller hockey rink so they can practice when it's warmer
lacrosse
Wish the NHL would do good will games where 20% of ticket sales go to helping these kinds of small hockey organizations. 10%, 2%, anything would help these guys live their passions. Build the sport internationally, invest in the future of the game.
India would be a great country to invest Ice hockey to. Because of the great knowledge of the game of hockey because of the stick skills and mentality of Field hockey and the huge population of the country. Just need to build arenas in a few locations and get proper access to equipment and coaching to really develop the sport.
just one question? Where do I ship my gear for this awesome passionated players? They need it better than I do for the moment :-)
Government of India should fund the hockey in Ladakh in terms of training, equipment and infrastructure. Hockey equipment are expensive even for those in the USA, Canada, Europe. So the govt and NGOs help even in a rich country.
The success of hockey in Ladakh will reverberate in the whole of Himalaya region from JK to Arunachal where the region is suited for Hockey.
You need gloves, bat, hamlet, shoe & blade etc. Didn't govt have crores of Rs to individual cricketers?
Great doc , hope this raises awareness or atleast gets a kickstarter campaign going
I have some old but good working equipment for icehockey, how do I give it away to guys like theese? Their passion for the game makes them really deserve it!
Please contact Adam Sherlip - adam@hockeyfoundation.org
I think building a full size roller hockey rink could help them improve a lot during the summer
Beautifully shot. Brilliant storytelling. Al Jazeera documentaries always leave me impressed.
somebody bring him to the ECHL or AHL to play so he can both play and support his family
Proud of you coach
Finally a good documentary by al jazzerra
I am sad , that Indian government or administration not paying attention to sports other than cricket. India is a sleeping giant. So much of talent. It pains when the women's ice hockey team don't receive funds to play World Cup. When will India become a sporting nation, I hope this happens in my lifetime. Baseball is a popular sport in Meghalaya/Mizoram, and we don't do anything. Baseball as a sport will in turn benefit cricket . Btw cricket although being the popular sport, India is not even the best team. The board may be rich , but as a country, we haven't dominated like the West Indies or Australia . Wake up India , wake up ...
Venky Krishnan Cricket not fund by Government of India
Seeing the passion of these guys it will make sense for hockey india to build a stadium or at-least some proper Astro turfs fields to play normal hockey in summer . Ladakh could contribute in a sport which we actually win and have so much of money and viewership . Ice hockey will get nowhere in a country like India where hockey by default is field hockey
We love field hockey not fake ice
@Kal el who wants snow we dont care
@Kal el but in india it is opposite ok
@Kal el football ( soccer) players are more richer than icehockey lol
this is why soccer is more popular than hockey wordlwide!!! because few people know about hockey in these countries! they love hockey if they are introduced to the game !
Hockey is pretty popular in india,not ice hockey though
It's very expensive. I'm Canadian and even I couldn't afford paying for hockey classes. I had to borrow skates and other equipments from friends
inline hockey will help you out by getting players
My peoples❤️
If one day I succeeded I definitely donet my money to you guys. I feel proud of you. My best wishes is with you brothers. Keep it up. Lots of love from me.
I think Tsewang Gyaltson could play in Mestis hockey league (2nd highest pro hockey level in Finland )
Echo no way, those players are not used to play even in a real rink. they play without body contact on a beer league level. the 2nd highest league in finland is full of pro hockey players who grew up playing hockey on a high level. if it would be that easy to get a contract in such a league, why would it be that hard for european players with good hockey education to make it to a professional?
but anyway, hats off for them ;)
Have any body noticed the opponents ? They are ITBP " Indo Tibet Border Police". They won by 3-1 . So it's not like that the game is overlooked. Its just not popular. But the determination and sacrifice of those less known players will bear fruits some day. The day is not too far.
A foreigner guy is doing volunteer coaching. A foreigner channel and this foreigner women are making the documentary.
And are we Indians doing? Only 1 lakh views. We would wait for decades and when these guys would finally win something and when Amir Khan makes a movie on it, we would watch that.
Great story, great camera shots.. :)
The sports ministry must mull a league for ice hockey too. I'm sure this will become an instant hit.
I am from kargil ladakh, we have lots of young talented players, but chance of scope are equal to negligible..
Thank You aj....for getting attention
Great video - must watch
It's like 50/50 ice hockey and bandy ;)
Am I the only person who thinks the picture for the video looks like glen?
I thought this was going to be a fun documentary to watch but I'm left feeling really sad. I would hope that somebody from the NHL would care enough to donate. I think that most people (including myself) are unaware of these type of teams. I mean, I just found out that there are Hockey competitions in Asia.
North korea has hockey prgrams teams and there national teams for the olympics with the south
That would be awesome if I see players being drafted from china and india.
realistic doc.. thumbs up.
incredible, did'nt knew about this.
Even when a mediocre Indian cricketer gets married, that's prime time news in India. Most sport columns of Indian newspapers have nothing to say other than Cricket and superstar cricketers even when those cricketers are not on national duty!
Indian Super League Football is going on these days and I find it hard to see a column on the same in The Times of India.
Well said... Even various Badminton event where Indian players are doing good and Hockey Jr. World Cup is happening.. Hardly any news...
cricket is a curse on India.
Awesome!
Honestly no one on that team that I saw will go pro my reasons:
1. Not skilled enough mainly because they don't have the resources (ice for more then2 months)
That's my only reason but these people have more heart then players in the NHL these people would get paid 50,000 USD to play per year when players like Crosby want like 10,000,000 USD a year
Crosby doesn't want that much. . he would play for less.. that's the going rate for a player of his caliber.. he doesn't set the salaries
Lol stupid comment
nothing to do with heart it's all about coaching and training if you can't afford forget it.
50000 USD? no way!! It would around 7000 USD per year!
imagine if they played team Canada
were is our national media ........were are they sleeping ....( Our media has become busy in non nation building issues ) Really sad till today i was even not knowing about this
They are busy spreading anti China propaganda .
we don't have good or i will say any infrastructure for ice hockey,our government should help them but they have limited money , till then only we the people of India can help them
They are covering cricket and Bollywood.
Thank you for sharing
I love ice hockey
How do theu sharpen their skates?
How come at 3:03 all the players have the national flag of India and the national flag of Taiwan on the right shoulder
That's the flag of ice hockey india
If Don Cherry sees this, he'll snort that all these guys are high on something!
need some kids from canada playing for them
is there a place where we can help the players and association with money and equipment?
+SonOfNothingness I'm sure they would really appreciate that. Please email Harjinder Singh from the Association at HARJINDER@showworks.in, icehockeyindia@gmail.com. If you are out of India and want to help you can contact Adam Sherlip, adam@hockeyfoundation.org
+Karishma Vyas you dont look indian O_O
and how does an indian look then?
We really need to donate new equipment
what is the name of these town?
+shane Vridve Leh and Laddakh I guess.
Considering he has an engineering degree would he not be able to see if there is a chance for a work visa in Canada, he would make more money than he is in india and could probably send the amount of money he would make in india fully to his mom and still live comfortable in Canada keep in mind that a pay check in India is not high a software engineer makes about 9K Cad / year in India and about 70K Cad/ year in Canada huge difference fr both him and his family
Canada gives visa to millionaire ex dictators from Pakistan and other despotic regimes but would never give a visa to these guys. If you have a million dollars, you can get citizenship in Canada.
"second hand equipment" Has CCM Tacs on lmao
Haha the legend with the sens jersey on
Is this a Betteman study? Lol
I want them to play vs TeamCanada
Love it
A lot of fans for a bear league game
Is it really beer league?
no
Why throw a pity party? I don't see why people choose to be pitiful, why can't they just be happy, just play the game if that's what you love doing. What are they trying to prove?
How do they sharpen there skates 😂
With a file
U.S national hockey league? Never heard of it
If training indian u can get 1.2 billion viewership
In ur dream even cricket has 700 million viewrship how an new sport get such biews fool