Hockey Raises Hope After Good Fight Against NetherLands

Hockey Raises Hope After Good Fight Against NetherLands

Back in the Olympics after a hiatus of eight years, past masters of the game India produced a valiant fightback in the second-half before losing 2-3 to world number three The Netherlands in their opening Group B match of the men's hockey competition on Monday. India, returning to the Olympics after a gap of eight years, started off the match with a fast attack, but the Netherlands came close to scoring on the counter before Birendra Lakra effected a fine clearance.

On Monday, eight time winners India gave tough fight to much higher ranked Netherlands before going down 2-3 in their opening London Olympic Games pool B men's hockey competition here. The Netherlands, the World No.3, opened up a 2-0 lead within the first half hour mark, but the Indians rallied back remarkably during a four-minute blitz after half time to draw parity at the riverbank arena. However, the European powerhouse struck the winner from a penalty corner midway into the second session to log full points.

Indians, ranked tenth in the world played well, particularly in the midfield, but their forwards were often found lacking, as they made a mess of a number of golden opportunities. But the defence looked solid, with V Raghunath cutting out some beautiful Dutch moves. Indian skipper Bharat Chettri also shone under the bar making some brilliant saves.

The Indian players' nerves were on display in their opening match, where all but two of their players were making the maiden appearance in Olympic Games. India's fightback began in the 45th minute when Tushar Khandekar's cross from the left flank struck the far post and rebounded into the circle. An opportunist Dharamvir Singh capitalised on the chance by beating goalkeeper Jaap Stockmann with a firm shot.

Three minutes later India were level at 2-2 when Gurwinder Chandi picked up a short pass from Gurbaz Singh inside the circle and dribbled past a defender before pushing the ball towards Shivendra Singh, who tapped in for India's second goal. Penalty corner specialist Mink van der Weerden reclaimed the lead for The Netherlands when he sent in a drag flick just under the cross-bar.

Hockey, in which India has an impressive record with eight Olympic gold medals, is officially the national sport. The Golden Era of hockey in India was the period from 1928 - 1956 when India won 6 consecutive gold medals in the Olympics. During the Golden Era, India played 24 Olympic matches, won all 24, scored 178 goals (at an average of 7.43 goals per match) and conceded only 7 goals. The two other gold medals for India came in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and the 1980 Moscow Olympics. 

Hockey alone has provided 11 metals (8 gold, 1 silver and two bronze medals). Apart from the three in shooting, the Indians have got two each in athletics and wrestling and one apiece from weightlifting, tennis and boxing.

We all know what happened in Chile in 2008. India was playing the qualifiers and was unable to qualify for the Beijing Olympics. It was the first time since 1928 that Indian men were not representing our National Game at the mega event. Since then there have been a lot of changes that have happened in Indian hockey.

Four years later India has got the chance to undo what happened to them in Chile. In the last three decades, Indian hockey has lost the connection that it once had and people now have more reasons to criticize the most loved game than to like it and without fail they are doing it.

London Olympics provides good opportunity to regain the fans back the national pride - Hockey ! With good fight in first match  against Netherlands, we can expect better show in coming matches !