Olympics: India slump to sixth defeat, finish last in hockey event
India’s men’s hockey team lost their sixth game out of six at the Olympics yesterday when a 3-2 defeat to South Africa condemned them to 12th and last place in the tournament.
It was the first time that the eight-time champions had gone through an Olympics without winning a match.
“We keep making the same mistakes all the time,” said Sardar Singh, one of the team’s star players. “We have to be aggressive. It was emotionally tough conceding the second goal. We have to be tough in the circle in future. We have to improve a lot. It’s very disappointing. The whole team has been mentally affected.”
Andrew Cronje gave South Africa an eighth-minute lead before Sandeep Singh levelled six minutes later. Timothy Drummond, in the 33rd minute, and Lloyd Norris-Jones, after 64 minutes, gave South Africa a two-goal cushion before Dharmavir Singh reduced the margin for India in the 66th.
Meanwhile, Belgium scored their first Olympic win over Spain since the Montreal Games 36 years ago as two goals from Tom Boon helped them to a 5-2 win and a final placing of fifth. The victory seemed likely from the second minute when Jerome Dekeyser dived in front of the goal-keeper to make a clever deflection from a short corner and put the Belgians in the lead. Spain may still have been suffering from the disappointment of two late penalty corner decisions being overturned as they pushed for the goal against Great Britain which would have earned them a semi-final place.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 12th, 2012.
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@squashleo05: That is because there is so much obsession abt India in Pak , its ppl and media are obsessed with India so we amuse ourselves by reading ur pathetic rants abt us... show me 3 sites where India media has commented anything abt Pakistan wining 0 medals...
Being 12th is better than not qualifying. India scored in all the games (except Belgium). If only they could defend better. Hope they will improve in this area next time. And some smirky comments coming from a country who for several outings has failed to bring home a single medal. It amazes me that such people have the guts to smirk at us. I think its better for Pakistan not to send any player to olympics next time and donate the money for something they are good at. We all know what that is !
Well i think not all but those pakistanis who support their hokey team despite their humiliating loss in olympics and not be able to win a single medal and thinking it is their gold medal for atleast they ranked above india is only damaging their country's sports and hurting the sentiments of people of pakistan.People of pakistan have send their players to win medals not to come 4th,5th,7th or whatever ranking and compare to india who has atleast given her best performance in olympics by winning 6 medals double than beijing olympics despite poor performance in hokey.if pakistan goes to olympic just for the sake of ranking not medals then i have nothing to say,it is for people of pakistan to decide what is good or bad for them.I am not saying not to support your team but along with support atleast adopt some tough stance may be that can work.As an indian i am happy at my country's performance with 2 silver and 4 bronze but still we believe we could have won 2 more medals if the controversial boxing decisions would not have taken place but 6 medals than previous 3 its ok.
And in other news, india won silver in wrestling 66kg, bronze in wrestling 60kg, Bronze in 51kg boxing, bronze in badminton, silver in 25mtr shooting, and bronze in 10ntr rifle... Hence therefore:- India in past 5 olympics:- 1,1,1,3,6. While pakistan:- 0,0,0,0,0. (now that consistancy, i envy you performance:p)
Pakistan has two gold medals now: Finishing top of India in hockey and India finishing at the bottom
@JJ:
National sport hockey!! And how do you fare in it? Seventh out of 12 teams.Stop making lame duck excuses. Its quite clear the obvious jealously Pakistan has for India and its people. I can even smell it in Indonesia.
@BaBa Blacksheep: india have 6 olympic medals and pakistan... none. we are in ranking but pakistan is nowhere in contention
India is great.They could have come on 13 position but unfortunately there were only 12 teams:D
Congratualtions to India for coming first.......from the bottom!
I don't know how to react on this news but yeah i am neither happy nor sad but certainly i am curious and i have a question for FIH that they have finished at 12th position lost all of there 6 matches there FIH Ranking is 11, so how did they qualified for champions trophy??
India finished last in hockey THAT IS OUR GOLD MEDAL 83 countries including India won medals in games,where is Pakistan perhapse the last one@squashleo05: coz india's population is 1 billion... one of the web users in the world... indians are everywhere... and some are here to open eyes..
Its a great news for Pakistan.this should have been the headlines in the newspapers.
@Alapan: ET is only following your footsteps my dear. Do i need to mention here that indians only love flooding comment boxs of negative news about Pakistan otherwise they are not found anywhere on ET. Hypocrisy at its best !!!
@SitaW:
really?
At least we are consistent............! That surely amounts to something, no? Rajan
@Alapan: Hockey is a sport that matters to South Asians . That's why!
@Alapan: well said, even i was thinking the same...I didn't see any news about Indian players winning matches but ET is prompt in reporting their loss...India's medal tally this Olympic is 5 till toady compared to last year's 3 - Good Show India...
@Alapan: BECOZ HOCKEY IS OUR NATIONAL GAME AND V COMPARE WITH OTHER HOCKEY PLAYING NATIONS -------- SPECIALLY WITH INDIA.
interesting how much indians read and comment on pakistani newspaper and other sites!now i wonder why that is,hmmm.... .
@Alapan: So true. They really are jealous
And Afghanistan wins a bronze medal :)
In another news, India's Yogeshwar Dutt has won a bronze medal in Men's 60Kg Freestyle Wrestling making this the 5th Medal for India in London Olympics...
Why is this news not there in ET? Oh!! Only news where Pakistan is better than India deserves here...