Contrasting fortunes greeted the Indian men’s and women’s hockey teams on Saturday at Rio. While the latter suffered another humiliating defeat at the hands of Argentina to end their Olympic campaign, the former find themselves a win away from scripting history by moving into the semi-finals after a hiatus of 36 years.
The road, however, is far from easy. An uninspiring draw against Canada implied the Indians will face a thoroughly motivated Belgium squad in the quarters on Sunday. Although there’s little to choose from the world rankings of the two teams, the fact remains that Belgium moves into the encounter as clear favorites.
AN INCONSISTENT JOURNEY
The journey in Brazil has been topsy-turvy so far, for the Indians have witnessed some stunning highs juxtaposed with a few disappointing lows. The 2-2 draw in the final group match against the team ranked 11 rungs below is an illustration of the latter. As India seek to overpower the Belgians in the quarters, ironing out quite a few issues seem to be the need of the hour.
PR Sreejesh and SV Sunil have been particularly good in the field. The former’s astute goalkeeping has been one of the reasons behind India’s 2-1 victory against Argentina. The defence has been noteworthy as well, especially in the match against Canada. Harmanpreet Singh and Surender Kumar stepped up in time and displayed immense skills in executing clean tackles and stubborn defending.
However, close defeats against Germany and the Netherlands brought on by momentous lapses of concentration spoke of an inability to close off games. It is this issue that may return to haunt Sreejesh’s men during their encounter against Belgium on Sunday.
THE INABILITY TO CLOSE GAMES
India missed as many as five penalty corners in the dying seconds of the Netherlands game to end up on the losing side. While the stats for drag-flickers aren’t really exciting, the fact that India had a solitary field goal ahead of their match against Holland speaks of greater issues in the forward line.
Further, the penchant of picking up yellow cards – four against Argentina, three against the Netherlands, one in the final quarter against Canada – are not going to help either. India cannot afford to lose their men on the field, even if for a few minutes, if they wish to stand a chance against the Pool A toppers.
Belgium have won four matches out of five in their pool and are expected to weigh heavy on their opponents. With striker SV Sunil’s injury – and possible absence from the line-up – being a nagging worry for the Indians, the dragflicking duo of Rupinder Pal Singh and VR Raghunath continue to be the cynosure in the camp ahead of the quarter-finals.
For the first time since 1980, the Indian hockey team is in the knockout stages of the Olympics. Replicating the feats of Vasudevan Bhaskaran’s team may seem a far-fetched assumption as of now, one dearly hopes that optimism and a billion prayers will help the team tide over several unanswered questions, on Sunday.