The boys have shown determination and fighting qualities in all the matches. They need to perform consistently in every tournament. The current team, the think tank and selectors are showing a sense of purpose in their mission. Congrats to Shri Carvalho and his boys.
we outplayed korea in every department of the game , skill and speed
when watching the dull malaysia-australia match, once just felt that the fitting opponent to australia should have been India. It would have been a fabulous match
It was nearly a fitting finale as India picked up the bronze beating the speedy Koreans. It is almost a decade or more since India dominated a match against Korea in a needle match as they did yesterday. The confidence, class, craft and control displayed by the team was fantastic. Some gaps are still there like the weak defence and the absence of a defensive midfielder. The return of Dilip Tirkey, Gagan and Ignace as well as the inclusion of Bruno Logun is sure to add to the fire power of the team. It was a baptism by fire for Carvalho.There are quite a few plus signs in the advent of the sparkling diamond Roshan Minz and the gallant Bharat Chikkara. Special approbations to Carvalho as he nonchalantly passed the initial hurdles in forming a great team.His performance so far has been as extraordinary as the goal he scored through a stroke after the clock was stopped in a nerve wrecking 5-5 with Germany in the 1985 Champions trophy. Finally again the poor projection of Hockey in the news Channels left a lot to be desired. Adding salt to the wound was one Channel showing excerpts of India- China match while commenting on the bronze medal win over Korea. Many channels were busy in detailing the return of Manoj Tiwari from Bangaldesh even before he has set his foot on the intl arena. Well the hockey stars continue to be the 'Unwept, unhonored and unsung heroes of Indian sports.
Cricket Sucks. Hockey is Great. We need to support hockey alot more. Cricket and cricketers get much more attention from people and media, but they don't deserve shit. Come we use to be the best at hockey and then this disease came to india called cricket. I mean come on play soccer, hockey and sports that are in olympics so atleast we can get some respect in the world. Even if we win the cricket world cup who cares? Australia, Endland, South Africa, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and few small countries??? out of the what about 140-150 countries in whole world maybe 8 to 10 countries would know or pay attention to it.
If only we had good finishers at Goal mouth India would have emerged winners for sure. India lacked good forwards who convert passes like Aussies and Argentine team. We are more happy because arch rivals Pakistan finished 6th in this Tournament. Our defeat against Malasia was unfortunate.
RE:AS Hocky Tourney.
by YamChuk on May 14, 2007 10:00 AM
"Unfortunate" . Come on man you being soft on them . They missed some dollies . I cannot believe they call themseleves professional players ,even a 4 year old cannot miss from 2 yards in front of a open goal (Even the GK was missing in the Goal) . That was the most frustrating match I have ever seen in any sports , I pity the coaches ,With All the training and players cannot eat a lollipop properly .
RE:AS Hocky Tourney.
by Gurmit Singh on May 14, 2007 01:34 PM
India misses services of Gagan Ajit Singh.I dont know how come prabhjot is in the team.He is good for nothing.PLease call back Sandeep Singh,Len Ayaapa,Dilip Tirkey,Ignace Tirkey and Bruno Logan and craft Sardara Singh as centre half as indian in inidan style of hockey its important and more over we used to attack from both flanks not only from right side.
Congatulation to the young India Team for playing consistently to retain their bronze medal.... Good going... government should wake up to give more importance to hockey..
India did commendably in the recent Hockey Cup by being placed 3rd. The news papers did not gie adequate importance to this achievement but continue to devote more importance to the ODI win in Bangladesh. No wonder that no one cares for any sport other than Cricket and may be to some extent to Tennis and Golf.
RE:Hockey
by Ramanath Babu on May 14, 2007 09:51 AM
Hi Ramani,
There was a time when Hockey was given its due importance. Like today's cricketers, our hockey players were also consistent in their bad showing in the past and all given up hope on our team. India had always been a formidable side in the international arena to the extent that they always dribble past the opponent's defenders and enter the 'D' only to miss out sitters. That has been the story for decades. Total dominance during the entire seventy minute period and then troupe out with their head down.
Teams like Australia relied more on counter attacks. They attack in fraction of seconds and convert half chances into goal. And our players invariably miss open scoring chances by shooting wide!
Don't be over enthusiastic about Indian hockey. Let us see how they fare in next few tournaments.
India has played well eventhough we had newcomers playing..The played and defended quite well with these youngsters against a tough team like Australia as compared to what Malaysia has given miserable performance in finals. I think we cud have dun better
India needs to fine tune our strikers so that we can get more goals rather than wrong passes.
Do not read too much into India's BRONZE medal win. Remember, This tournament didn't have Germany, Netherlands and Spain, hence the grp was easier.
The only good thing that can be taken from the third place finish is that they were placed ahead of Pakistan and Korea.
Morover defeating debutants China by a close margin is not at all a good sign. We should have won them comprehensively ,say atleast by a margin of 4 goals.
Watch out for China..they have already defeated india's women team, and in a decade or so, might be strong enough to challenge our men's team too.
And who knows, by 2050, China might defeat India in Cricket too :))
RE:GOOD, BUT NOT GREAT!!!
by Raghupathi Bhat on May 14, 2007 09:01 AM
Atleast motivate the young team who showed good performance. Watch highlights of the game and then comment. Really Indial have played good game vs Aus,Korea and Malasia.
RE:GOOD, BUT NOT GREAT!!!
by Ronny vaz on May 14, 2007 05:05 PM
for your info China has already beaten India & Pakistan at last years Doha Asian games and lost to South Korea & in the year 2050 Nepal will beat India..
RE:GOOD, BUT NOT GREAT!!!
by abc_xyz abc_xyz on May 15, 2007 10:45 AM
To all those who say iam being pessimist,
Tell me one thing...Hockey has been in our country for the last 100 years...we have dominated the sport from 1920s to 1950s like no other team in any other sport.
We still have a sizable population that follows/supports hockey, Hockey is still famous in Punjab, Orrisa and Tamil Nadu.
In spite of all these plus points, the IHF board sucks big time. Its full of politics.
For such a high profile tournament, why is that team was picked 15 days in advance and structure changes.
Why it took 100 years, to get a professional hockey league in our country. Why is that the backup strength not of world standard.
And most importantly, India has been playing very very spirited hockey (thats one reason why i still follow closly) ..but has been on the losing side.
We should not always say, this is a new team, this is experimenting, they are forming a team for the future etc etc... We should analyse the reasons why we could not progress between 1980 and 2007.
Beating india once, doesn't mean china is a better team..but it means, they might be a potential force against us, if we do not take enough precautions.
RE:GOOD, BUT NOT GREAT!!!
by Undertaker on May 14, 2007 05:06 AM
What is your prediction for the champions Trophy 2007?? Who do you think will win?? My bet is on Holland!!
RE:GOOD, BUT NOT GREAT!!!
by Crick fan on May 14, 2007 06:33 AM
Cricket is in spotlight. If we put up Hockey match with Bangladesh, We can score a dozen difference.
RE:GOOD, BUT NOT GREAT!!!
by suresh shyam on May 15, 2007 01:33 PM
I have read your previous messages.I am not trying to justify that this is a great achievement but surely this could be a beggining like there is a beginning for everything.I know that India has been flopping in majors but why dont you think that with the right inf. and support we could still be competitive.From what I have observed there is no dearth of talent in this country.Also it is foolish to say that we are lacking in speed maybe noy in power because we have had forwards who used to run 100m in 10.8secs.In Phl we have be able to identify good talent.You must understand that hockey has suffered due to administration.We have never had a coach more than a year, nor are the players sure about their positions .So this has been the major reason behind hockeys dismal showing.But Iam very confident that hockey can become competitive as it used to be
RE:GOOD, BUT NOT GREAT!!!
by Raghupathi Bhat on May 14, 2007 02:30 PM
i will come to u r point that not only china may beat India in 2050 but even they can beat holland, australia or germany. becauase 43 odd years before they are able to do that...
RE:GOOD, BUT NOT GREAT!!!
by Gurmit Singh on May 14, 2007 01:39 PM
Indains love to critise the team.No one keeps in mind that this team is formed 15 dyas before tournament and the coach is also new one.But i think this team will grow in leaps one suggestion is to recruit some foreigner as team consultant as they are more professional and way ahead in knowledge.Kudos to indian team and coach
RE:GOOD, BUT NOT GREAT!!!
by Ramanath Babu on May 14, 2007 02:55 PM
Mr. Gurmit Singh
Even if the team is formed 15 months before or 30 months before, it does'nt make any difference. We continue to flop up-front. The last time India did well in a major tournament was way back in the early seventies, when India won the world cup. AFter that India started sliding down. The team had Govinda and Ashok Kumar as forwards. Then came the era of Zaffar Iqbal and Mod. Shaffiq. World calss players, yet India did not win any major tournamemnts - rather lost every tournament. AFter that it was Pillai all the way. mercurical forward - people said about him. Yes he scored some memorable goals for India. But again India could never convert their supirority into goals due to failure of its forwards to convert chances that came to their way.
WE won an Olympic medal in Moscow mainly because all other countries - major forces in hockey, sent a depleted side in that Olympic. Under Bhaskaran we could thus win a gold medal.
It is the same story repeating. Playing good hockey, yet finishing poorly. May be when they wear the Indian jersey, the players come under lot of pressure. They know the expectations of their country-men and it takes it toll on them. We are a country starved of good performance by its sportspersons. Cricket and Hockey are the only two games where we can expect something. So the people always focus their attention to these players, which in turn put the players under tremendous pressure.
