On a day hockey based Chak de India hit the screens, Indians led by Goalkeeper Sreejesh too kit the bull’s eye. The team is in the semis in its first outing under coach A.K. Bansal.
Our colts at Monchengladbach have won all their three matches in the pool and qualified for the semis. In the last pool match on Friday, they defeated the hosts 2-1.
India will take on Belgium in semis today (Saturday). Belgium defeated England 3-2 in a crucial tie on Friday to reach the semis.
With two victories at the back, the Indians engaged the hosts and won by an odd goal in three. Promod Kumar scored the all important winner after Jaswant Singh equalized earlier.
The Indians have been setting the hockeypark afire from the day one. In the opener, helped by six goals from penalty corner executioner in the team Diwakar Ram’s 6 goals, India crushed the Polish team to 7-1.
In the second match, the Spaniards and India stood at 2-2 after the regulation time. In the tie breaker captain P.R. Sreejesh brought out two stroke saves to give India the full points. The match against the Germans did the rest.
The 67th minute goal by Promod Kumar in a way is a sweet revenge for India, whose senior team in the Men’s world Cup a year earlier, conceded a late goal and thus surrendered not only the match but never rose again to merit any worthy credits.
If the current form is any indications, India should overcome the Belgians and be in the final. If it can do it in the finals too, this will give some fillip to the sagging morale of the Indian hockey.