Hockey: Hapless India slammed by former players
India lost all five group matches and will take on South Africa for the last two places in the 12-nation competition - lower than their previous worst of eighth position at the 1996 Atlanta Games.
“This team did not deserve to be in the Olympics,” said former international Mohammad Shahid. “They have let the whole nation down.”
India, who won their last Olympic hockey gold in 1980, failed to qualify for the Beijing Games four years ago and needed to win a qualifying event at home in New Delhi to make the trip to London. Ranked 10th in the world, India were never serious contenders for the semi-finals, but even skipper and goal-keeper Bharat Chetri was stunned at the total meltdown in the ongoing Games.
“We didn’t play as a team,” said Chetri. “Every match we went down and down. The morale is totally low. We are not defending, neither are we scoring. We have to learn more hockey and improve a lot.”
India’s coach Michael Nobbs, who took over last year, escaped criticism which was mainly directed at the players.
“The players have been given a lot of exposure, they can’t blame anyone for their performance,” said the 1975 World Cup winning captain Ajitpal Singh.
India were the only team in the competition which failed to gain a point, scoring just six goals against 18 conceded.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 9th, 2012.
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@Truth Detector: Not really since we aren't as well off as the US and cannot afford to spend 2 million $ to train each athlete
@R is clever. There are people who like to grab all the attention and everytime they lay the trap so many fall into it and @R feels like a winner..Our Indian team is the worst. Maybe we should have more India-Pak matches so that we both improve and beat the western power houses. This is not a competition between India and Pakistan.
@ R: Pakistan was once (in 1994) world champions in four international sports cricket, hockey, snooker and squash. India hasn't experienced such luxury and honor ever.
Approximately one third of world's population lives in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh. Their dismal performance in Olympics speaks volume about the way these countries are managed or governed.
@R: Where does Pakistan come into this? Are you mad that Pakistan performed better? As far as I'm concerned, I was disappointed and saddened by India losing all of its matches but I guess some people still cannot get over the Pakistan - India hate mongering. It's childish that you made it a point to use lower case for the p in Pakistan but upper case i for India. Grow up please
@R: So that justifies your defeat in hockey? I find that amusing. From a common Pakistani on the street, we couldn't care less about India anyways!! Green shirts didn't play well and that's all that matters to us.
India should forget Hockey and concentrate on Cricket.
India has also won 4 medals already. pakistan has not won this many in last 20 years.
How did India forget Hockey