The Hindu : Sport : A new low for Indian hockey

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Dec 11, 2006
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A new low for Indian hockey

S. Thyagarajan

Men fail to make it to the medals bracket for first time since 1958

— Photo: AP

MIDFIELD SKIRMISH: India's Shivendra Singh (centre) fights for possession with South Korea's Yeo Woo-kon and Cha Jong-bok (shirt No. 15).

DOHA: That the men's hockey team will return without a medal from the Asian Games for the first time since 1958 became a reality. The 1-1 result in a must-win situation against South Korea in Pool B was hardly a consolation. The outcome confirmed China's first entry into the semifinals with South Korea.

Sad though the scenario is, with the spectre of not making it to the Olympiad in Beijing in 2008 looming large, the qualification tournaments scheduled in the early part of the Olympic year are the only pathway left. One poor game against China has caused this havoc.

Confronted with the mortifying situation of figuring in 5-8 positions for the first time, the Indians perforce will have to rework and win the next two matches.

Distressed by the outcome, coach Baskaran, conceded how the match against China proved disastrous. A victory could have well been accomplished against Korea if the chances were seized. There were a few. In fact one showed up in the final second when Rajpal failed to connect a cross from Harpal.

Age-old frailty

The age-old frailty of wasting chances after threading some eye-catching sallies continued. A counter attack in the early minutes saw Tushar missing the mark. Later, a Halappa pass was miscued by Hariprasad. Enumerating missed opportunities compounds the sense of agony.

India's mid-field, led well by Ignace Tirkey and Halappa, functioned efficiently along with Harpal Singh on the left and Vinay on the right. Quite a few moves were well fashioned but the finish was inadequate as neither Tushar nor Shivendra made the best of the situations.

Splendid saves by Raghunath and Vinay kept the Koreans in check till the first half. But on resumption, Korea surged ahead with a penalty corner goal by Jong Jang Hyun whose shot hit the chest of Raghunath and deflected in.

From midway through in this half, pressure from India was quite transparent. A goal looked imminent. And then came the equaliser from a third penalty corner when Raghunath produced an impeccable flick to raise the hopes of the Indian supporters. But the Koreas tightened their grip to deny any further goals.

In another match, Pakistan and Japan played an insipid, listless goalless draw. The result knocked out Malaysia, the bronze medallist at Busan, out of medal contention.

There were ugly scenes at the end of the tension packed Oman-Bangladesh encounter. Disappointed by the reverse after leading 2-1 at half-time the Omanis lost their cool. Al Husni was seen swinging his stick, which the Bangladesh players claimed had injured a couple of them. Husni was later suspended by the Tournament Director Madhavan Devadoss after watching the video.

The results: Men: Pool B: Bangladesh 5 (Isa Mia, Rasel Muhmud 2, Zahidul Islam, Mohammad Shahidullah) beat Oman 3 (Rajab Basim, Al Balushi 2) (Ht 1-2).

Korea 1 (Jang Jong Hyun) drew with India 1 (Raghunath) (Ht 0-0).

Pool A: Malaysia 9 (Rahim Muhamad Amin 3, Chua Boon Huat 2, Jalil Tenku 2, Muhammad Razie 2) beat Chinese Taipei 0 (Ht 5-0); Pakistan 0 drew with Japan 0.

The semifinal line up: Pakistan v China; South Korea v Japan.

Table of Points (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points): Pool A: Pakistan 4-2-2-0-20-2-8; Japan 4-2-2-0-18-3-8; Malaysia 4-2-2-0-14-4-8; Chinese Taipei 4-1-0-3-1-22-3; Hong Kong 4-0-0-4-3-25-0

Pool B: South Korea 4-3-1-0-23-2-10; China 4-3-0-1-13-7-9; India 4-2-1-1-18-4-7; Bangladesh 4-1-0-3-7-22-3; Oman 4-0-0-4-4-30-0.

Monday's matches: Women: China v Malaysia (12.30 p.m.); Hong Kong v Japan (2.30 p.m.); Korea v India (5.30 p.m.).

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