Its not easy to observe each and every player in such a high voltage tournament as Olympics day in and day out, then come out with perspective and objective analysis of the event and also each one of the team members, and allot performance rating in numbers without favour or bias. This is the job this lovely hockey buff Pinder Singh Sagoo has undertaken to put our understanding of Rio fiasco in a proper way. It was a job he chose to do out of his passion for Indian hockey, typed whole on a mobile before whattapping to us. We s2h bow to his work ethics and love of Indian hockey. Sagoo and his London group was there in Rio for the entire duration.

OVERALL ASSESSMENT OF TEAM:

India started well with hopes of doing well, and even a podium finish. But sadly, the same old mistakes cost India and when the most important game mattered, sadly the team were not able to deliver the required work rate and mental strength.

4 / 10

It’s very easy to blame coaches, managers, but when it matters it’s the players who are responsible on the pitch, nobody else. Look at the finalists, they had the hunger, desire and will to win followed the plan set out by the coach and each player gave 150% to win, an important lesson for the players to look and learn from.

Past coaches can easily blame staff and officials, but when are players who weren’t good enough to represent India going to get blamed?? And players picked on merit. The desire to a Olympic champion was lacking, we are just holding on to history when we used to be world hockey power house, the other teams have moved on and developed hockey into a new art, we are still playing catch up, this kind of mindset was clearly there in Rio for all to see.

PLAYER WISE PERFORMANCE RATING

1: PR SREEJESH: The much acclaimed Indian goalie was outstanding making key saves mostly, but conceded easy and soft goals when mattered. For a keeper of his ability he should be saving them.

6 / 10

2: KOTHAJIT SINGH: Played well over all, but gave up balls easily, he is simple mistakes prone in the circle giving away penalty corners.

4 / 10

3: V R RAGHUNATH: He put his best, but was not at his commanding best, picked cards every game which cost the team, scored a couple of goals, errors in keys areas.

5 / 10

4: RUPINDER SINGH: Performed ok, scored in a few games, not able to score in key moments, again committing simple errors in key areas.

5 / 10

5: HARMANPREET SINGH: Performed well, good for the future, a good learning experience, not able to display his penalty skills, not error free.

5 / 10

6: SURENDER KUMAR: Average show, tried to develop attack on the right flank, again one for the future.

5 / 10

7: MANPREET SINGH: Played pivotal role in the centre, not able to develop anything more than that what was expected of him, miss-hits, miss-pass common, lost possession to easy in the middle.

6 / 10

8: SARDAR SINGH: Played as a forward, worked endlessly for the team, lacked support form other forwards, seems he will be better at centre-half, that case would have helped team perform better.

5.5 / 10

9: DEVINDER WALMIKI: Started well but did not do any thing worthwhile, not given much chance either.

4 / 10

10: S V SUNIL: The forward started well, creating chances for others, but slowly faded as the tournament progressed, and was hopeless in the end.

5 / 10

11: DANISH MUJTABA: Controlled performance in the middle, helped the defence breaking down rival attacks many times.

5.5 / 10

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12: AKASHDEEP SINGH: Scored a couple of goals, lacked the work rate as a forward, poor use of the final ball, lost the ball very easy in attack:

4.5 / 10

13: RAMANDEEP SINGH: Questionable selection, offered very little in the forward line apart from one spectacular goal, lacked the work rate required for a forward.

3 / 10

14: NIKKIN THIMMAIAH: A very questionable selection, seemed a school boy amongst men, never looked comfortable, always head down, lacked the ability to play at this higher level.

2 / 10

15: SK UTHAPPA: Again Questionable selection, errors in key areas of the game, poor decision making and poor basic hockey skills.

3 / 10

16: CHINGLENSANA Performed OK, opening goal against Argentina was superb, worked for the team’s cause always.

5.5 / 10

Pic: The author is seen second from left in the front row.