Indian hockey team aims for quarterfinals as first milestone

Paris: After their historic bronze medal win at the Tokyo Olympics, the Indian men’s hockey team is setting its sights on a more ambitious goal: winning medals at consecutive Games. The challenge is formidable, as India last won back-to-back Olympic hockey medals in 1968 and 1972, securing bronze in both Mexico and Munich.

India is the most successful country in Olympic hockey, with eight gold medals, six in a row. But those medals came four decades ago and the hockey world has changed a lot since then and winning back-to-back medals is not so easy these days.

And India face a huge challenge when they take to the artificial turf of the Yves-du-Manoir Stadium in the 12-team men’s hockey competition. India are drawn in Pool B with reigning champions Belgium, former winners Australia, Argentina and New Zealand, along with Ireland, while Pool A includes the Netherlands, Germany, Great Britain, Spain, hosts France and African champions South Africa.

The first target for Indian men is to finish in the top four of the group to qualify for the quarterfinals. After that, the real battle begins.

India’s build-up has been quite disappointing, especially the Test series in Australia and the eight Pro League matches in Antwerp and London. India lost most of these matches, resulting in a seventh place out of nine teams in the Pro League. This has also resulted in India’s ranking dropping from top five to seventh in the world in the FIH rankings.

For the Paris Olympics, the selection committee consisting of Dr. RP Singh, Balwinder Singh, Mohd Riaz, MM Somaya, Sardar Singh and BP Govinda, put together an experienced team of 11 players who were part of the team that won the bronze medal in Tokyo.

Two of them, goalkeeper PR Sreejesh and Manpreet Singh, who captained the team in Tokyo, are playing at the Olympics for the fourth time, while five players – Jarmanpreet Singh, Sanjay, Raj Kumar Pal, Abhishek and Sukhjeet Singh – are making their debuts.

The core of the selection consists of 16 players, 11 of whom come from Tokyo. The team has the experience to face the challenges in Paris.

The problem, however, may not be that simple as the team has undergone a transformation under head coach Craig Fulton — the approach has changed from an attacking mentality to a defensive one. India has always believed in attacking through aggressive Asian hockey.

Experts believe that the team needs to have a strong defense, with everyone from attackers to defenders contributing to blocking the opponent’s attack in their own half. But the all-out defensive approach may not sit well with players whose mentality is to be aggressive.

India will begin their campaign against New Zealand in their opening match on July 27. Apart from this match, the clash with Ireland will be quite crucial as winning both matches will at least ensure that the teams finish fourth in their group and qualify for the quarter-finals.

In other matches, India will play Argentina on July 29, Ireland the following day, reigning champions Belgium on August 1 and former winners Australia on August 2.

The groups:

Pool A: Netherlands, Germany, Great Britain, Spain, France, South Africa

Pool B: Belgium, India, Australia, Argentina, New Zealand, Ireland.

Source- IANS