Demoralised India need to regroup for bronze playoff in men’s hockey
PARIS: After a heart-wrenching defeat in the semi-finals, a demoralised Indian men’s hockey team will have to regroup quickly and aim for a second consecutive podium finish at the Olympics when it takes on Spain in the bronze medal playoff here on Thursday. The Indians played bravely against Germany, putting their defence under pressure from the start and in the process took the lead in the seventh minute through a penalty corner conversion by skipper Harmanpreet Singh.
But the Germans came back strongly in the second and fourth quarters to secure the close win, courtesy some silly defensive lapses from the Indians, especially Jarmanpret Singh.
The Indians too were guilty of wasting too many scoring chances, including as many as 10 penalty corners, while converting two, one directly and another through variation.
The opposition teams seemed to have found out a way to deny one of the world’s best dragflicker Harmanpreet as he managed to be on target just once on Tuesday.
The over-reliance on Harmanpreet and lack of innovative penalty corner variations seemed to be hurting India badly here as they don’t have much options in their hands.
But the return of Amit Rohidas, who missed Tuesday’s match after being shown the red card against Great Britain in the quarter-final, should bolster the Indian defence and also give more chances from penalty corners as he is second best option from set pieces after Harmanpreet.
The Indians were looking to break a 44-year jinx to reach an Olympic final but it eluded them narrowly.
The last time India made the Olympic hockey final was way back in 1980 Moscow Games, which, in fact, was the last of their eight gold medals at the quadrennial event.
A place in final would have at least assured India a silver medal after 1960 Olympics but that also slipped out of hands.
But all is not lost for the Indians as they still have a chance to claim a podium finish if they beat Spain on Thursday in the bronze medal match.
For that, the Indians will have to leave the baggage of the semi-final loss behind and come out with a clear mind to get the better of Spain.