The game of hockey has evolved so much that it is indistinguishable from hockey of yore.The game has become faster and calls for technical competency speed and stamina.All the top teams play what can be called direct hockey.The indian style of hockey is not sustainable now.The indian players hold on to the ball a bit too long giving the opportunity to the opponent an opportunity to regroup and counterattack sucessfully.A layman can tell that baljit singh dhillon was not contributing to the teams cause by holding on for too long. The government should get rid of babudom from the games and should immediately chalk out a plan for the next olympics.
The showing of the indian team has been a real disappointment.although much was not expected of them.But it seems the team has overstrained itself before the olympics and look too tired.This evindent by the way our players approach the play by waiting for the ball rather than chasing it.Pillay,baljit,ignace,prabjot have all played below par.Time for some of them to move over.The new commers harpal and sandeep needs more time on field before they can compete in international level.I think there is also need for change in the higher ranks of IHF.Mr Gill and jyothikumar has sat long on those chairs and run their kingdom.They have done hardly anything on the domestic front.When was the last hockey nationals held???...If we dont have a proper system at our domestic level ,how will we identify new players.I think the IHF bosses is just good at making money from the storts ministry and from sponsors and has no interest in promoting the game.The selection comitteee is another case of facre.We should have experts sitting in and selecting our boys,,,rather that leave it to the whims and fancies of a 3 man comittee.
allow me to say, our national game has nosedived to such a rockbottom thanks to the politics prevalent in the helm of affairs. People who man the body think that the game is their asset and so hav better dictates. Improper selection of coach, lack of proper training for long to face such a huge event, favouritism, lack of interest in the game but just to stay in power at any cost are the problems haunting the game. We must have a coach of the calibre of Ric Charlesworth, who can really teach the nuances of the game to our players. But all sdaid & done, one aspect surfaces is that our team is not able to sustain the pressure in dieing moments as well as in the initial stages. Offence is always the best form of defense in this game but we still dont think in this despite our defeats in several games. Why it is so? Are we susceptible to heavy pressure or getting drained in the last ten minutes. If so, why shouldnot we have some reserve for it? In all games we played , the goals scored in last 15 minutes counts a lot and decided the fate. Onething is sure, we will never stage a comeback? Thanks IHF, you have buried the game & national honour. Keep it up.
i think the hockey team is not capable to beat any team..its the same story everytime that india got defeated..I think all the players need co-ordination between themselves like holland team and the best thing idomestic matches. to put all the hockey team players in one club so that they can build co-odrniation by playing .By this they will get benefited..wish luck to Indian team for next tournament.... sandeep kumar singh
Yet another poor showing by the hockey team. Everything should be blamed for the highhandedness in bringing in a chief coach at the wrong time. Also it was a poor show on the field.
This team does not deserve to go to olympics. We could clearly see in the match against Australia that they were out of steam after a play of 55 to 60 minutes. If a team cannot play comfortably for 70 minutes (forget about technic, skill, speed etc)does not deserve to go to such competitions. Money spent on them is a national waste.
I think main problem with the Indian team is the defence. Indian player should concentrate more on defence. This will motivate forward players to make some good moves and have more chances of goal.
Stamina of the players is as important, if not more, as technique or skills. Our future team should have better stamina and able to play with same intensity from minute 1 to minute 70. The players should not feel that they have nothing to loose. Being selected to the olympic team was not their ultimate goal(but winning the Gold is). We should have more national competitions. Any one with the above defects should not make it to the national team.
Till politicians and beaurocrats have their way with their whims and fancies this will continue to happen. I ask one simple question..A certain Mr. Chautala is the president of the Table Tennis federation of India..has anyone seen or heard of him in any TT meet? Does he know which end of the TT bat is used to strike the ball? and persons of his ilk are the rule rather than the exception in the sports scene of India. As an ex-serviceman my chest swells with pride at Major Rathore's achievement but he won inspite of the system not because of it. We should be ashamed of celebrating a single silver medal with a population of one billion. These are the standards we set for ourselves! shame.
During the matches, one can easily trace out the mistakes and lacklustre performance shown by our players particularly Gagan Ajit Singh and Dhillon. Instead of approching ball, they were seen waiting for the ball to come to them, which in today's fasttrack match can be termed "horrible perfomance"
We hope that IHF and the coach will look into this matter and will try to improve the performance of our team because millions of people still closely observe and watch the matches.
