Now that the game has been won and the celebrations finished, what next?
While winning gold at the Asian Games has brought India a ticket to the Olympic Games in Rio 2016, it's important to not think India is back and gold medals will adorn the mantle pieces and all will be well too soon in the land of Indian hockey.
The Asian Games gave us many things to work, some weaknesses and some positives.
There is a real need for the young strikers to learn that their job is to score goals. Most of the goals the team scored were from penalty corners and defenders' field goals. Indeed, Kothajit Singh, left defender, scored the equaliser in the final where Ramandeep Singh and SV Sunil were unable to score from directly in front. This is a problem going forward as these half chances are the difference between success and failure.
Sreejesh, what a tournament for him! He is world class and showed again why he is so critical to India. India need to find another goalkeeper to take the load off him and let's hope he doesn't get injured.
Sardar looks to have finally found form and his leadership comes from his inspired ability to produce the magic that everyone wants to see. His ability to split defences and run through lines is exactly what the Indian team needs.
Rupinderpal Singh showed he has matured as a player and is adept at marshalling the defence. He will improve over the next 18 months. Birender Lakra is just as rock solid as India needs. His multi-ability to attack and defend will be invaluable to India moving forward.
But more importantly, it's time to look at what's been done and what India do from here. It's time now to get some perspective on what has happened.
This was the Asian Games. It is nowhere as strong as the World Cup and competing against European and Australian teams. India finished 9th at the last World cup. Apart from South Korea, who were ranked 8th, all the other teams are still above India. There are 18 months until the Rio Olympics and really not a lot time for India to move anywhere near the top of the rankings.
India have very little chance of getting a medal at the next Olympics as the top teams Australia, Germany, Holland, Belgium and Argentina have excellent programmes in place and have been entrenched in the top four for 20 or more years. India winning the Asian Games will not change this. A realistic goal for the next Olympics will be to finish between 5th and 7th. The question is how this can be done.
The national programme should have delivered players that are on the verge of playing for India. What the reality is that Terry Walsh is given players that are far below those standards and then he is expected to train them in a short time and win tournaments.
I have visited many academies in India and the coaches are crying out for education and help to know what they need to do to get their players up to the standards needed. Modern training methods, sports science, psychology, physiotherapy - India has the facilities for these but needs foreign input to get these programmes established, get Indian coaches trained and then bring better players to the national programme.
This young team has been developing for a few years now and will continue to develop but it's a small base of players and too big a gap between them and the next group down. Competition is needed on this group, otherwise complacency will set in and the results will not change.
India, you have a golden opportunity; don't waste it like so many other times getting caught up in the euphoria of thinking this is a revival. It is, but it's just as easy to sink. Remember, there are other nations out there also wanting the same thing.
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