With his wealth of experience, the 32-year-old Christopher Ruhr, who has been serving Germany since 2012 and has won two Olympic medals and a World Cup title, is an asset for any side. The seasoned German player, who was in the Ranchi Rays side in the previous version of the Hockey India League (HIL), pulled out of the league in its relaunch season before returning to the HIL this year to don defending champion Shrachi Rarh Bengal Tigers’ colours.

Having seen the journey of the league as well as that of the Indian team’s revival in recent years, Ruhr is perfectly placed to give a correct picture about hockey health of the country that is so dear to him. In a chat with The Hindu, Ruhr spoke about his own career as well as the progress of Indian hockey.

Excerpts: You played in the HIL in 2017. Now you’ve come back to the league after skipping it last season.

How has the league changed in its new version? The league has changed. Every match is important because you only play once against all the other teams and then you’re in the final four or you’re going home.

So every match has more importance to itself, which makes them more interesting and brings them to a higher level. That’s definitely a big change.

How have you gelled with the new age Indian players, who form the bulk of the Bengal Tigers team? Does (German) Valentin Altenburg’s presence as the coach help? The spirit in the group is really good and I’m very happy to have such amazing Indian hockey players around me and Indian personalities. I look up to them and to their style of play and how they approach the game.

I’m very enthusiastic about playing with Indian players, not only the internationals like Sukhjeet (Singh), Abhishek (Nain), Jugraj (Singh), who have been amazing on the international stage, but also the guys who don’t play for India’s men’s team are amazing players and it’s such an honour to play with them on one pitch and in one team and it’s lots of fun. Valentin’s presence helps a lot because he knows really well how to form a team and how to push the right buttons so everyone can feel themselves, but also play their best hockey. So that’s definitely a big help.

You won the Junior World Cup in Delhi in 2013 and then won the senior World Cup in Bhubaneswar in 2023. Does India hold a special place for you? India is such a special place in my heart because all these great memories have been taking place here and it’s always an honour to come back because you play in front of big crowds. You have big fans who support you no matter if you’re Indian or international and that’s really special to me to have the support of so many Indian people and winning tournaments itself is already really big, but doing that in India is also very special.

So, I come back every time with joy and it’s definitely a very special place in my heart. You were rated highly from younger days and you rose to the expectations.

With more experience, how have you changed as a player over the years? Thank you so much. I have changed a lot over the past few years.

Also my playing style has changed in a more experienced, more composed kind of playing style – trying to dominate the game in a different way. Not only by running with the ball and beating my opponent and winning duels, but also making open passes and bringing my teammates into good positions.

And that to me is as much fun as beating my opponent one-on-one, making a nice pass, a nice aerial (pass) into space where my teammate has an advantage or assisting them to score. I’m also still trying to be quick and my strength of skills on a high speed and tempo to bring that. I think for the team I play in, it’s more beneficial how I play now to find a good rhythm between going on my own and bringing my teammates into good positions.

These days I just love making my teammates better and winning matches with my teammates, playing awesome hockey and with me having a big influence on them. Tell us about your ambition in this year’s World Cup and LA28.

There’s a big restructuring process going on in the German team. So we lost many very experienced, successful players from the past 10 years. We have to build a new team.

It’s tough to say what our goal is at the World Cup. I think Germany always goes into tournaments to win them.

I guess that will also be the case for this year’s World Cup. The Pro League matches help us to develop, help the young guys to make mistakes, because only if they make mistakes can they become better players on the big international stage.

I’m really looking forward to seeing the young guys develop and help them to become the best players on the international stage. Going to the World Cup and LA28, it’s definitely a big change in the German team. I’m looking forward to being part of it and helping the team be successful.

How do you analyse the changes in the Indian hockey team in the last 10-15 years? Where do you see it in the World Cup and next Olympics? As you can see in the results, Indian hockey has thrived again and risen to being one of the top nations in the world. Every tournament we play, India is up for a medal. So it’s a really interesting opponent and I always love playing against India.

The past 10 or 15 years have been really good for Indian hockey and it’s a joy to see it because I love the Indian style of play and also love the players I have played with in the past and in the present, like Manpreet Singh, Sukhjeet, Abhishek. These guys, I (would) just love seeing them play for the next World Cup and the next Olympics. India will play for medals and it will be interesting in close matches to see how they do.

When I look back to the Paris Olympics, especially the quarterfinal against Great Britain, one of the best matches I’ve ever seen India play. They were a man down for 43 minutes and were still the better team than Great Britain and managed to come out as a winner. It’s just unbelievable and shows the mental strength of the new Indian generation as well.

Do you think hockey needs to reinvent its standard and popularity in other Asian countries such as Pakistan, Korea and Malaysia to make itself more competitive and relevant in the Olympics? For me, it is really difficult to answer because we don’t always play Asian countries, but I think it takes years and years when you’ve been good and you’ve become a little down, then to get good again. India did it unbelievably well. India had a phase in the past 20 years where it didn’t go like it should.

But they’ve risen again and are amongst the top countries in the world. I wish the Asian teams become better again because it’s always so special to play against them. Not only India, but also Pakistan, Korea, Malaysia.

It’s such a unique style of play and it’s always great fun to play against these countries. I hope they will become better and better again. So the world’s biggest stages also get closer and closer at the top.