Pak hockey coach optimistic after poor start

By: Khalid A-H Ansari

Beijing: Pakistan hockey coach Naveed Alam was livid after his team’s first Olympics field hockey defeat to Britain in 56 years.

Britain last beat Pakistan 2-1 at the 1952 Helsinki Games but were trounced 8-1 and 8-2 by the Asian hockey powerhouse at Sydney 2000 and Athens ’04.

“I can’t be happy when we missed so many goals,” he fumed after the team’s 4-2 defeat in its opening match of the tournament.

“It is unacceptable at the start of the tournament. We had seven penalty corners and wasted all of them. It makes it difficult for us now, but we will fight all the way.”
Shades of the comments we hear from Indian hockey coaches and managers time after time!

It s not often that one gets the pleasure of seeing India figure in the top half of the unofficial Olympic medals tally.

Even though it is early days yet, it was, therefore, gratifying to see India placed at No 12 (alongside Romania, Thailand and Azerbaijan) at the end of Day 3 of the Games, behind China (total: 14 medals), USA (12), Republic of Korea (8), Italy (8), Australia (5), Japan (4), Britain (3), Netherlands (3), Czech Republic (2), Finland (2) and Spain (2).

The medals count is not recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which places greater emphasis on participation in true Olympic spirit rather than winning medals.

Almost as a matter of routine, American swimming sensation Michael Phelps who is expected to better Mark Spitz’s 1972 Munich Olympic Games record of seven gold medals, garnered his third title of these Games when he won the 200m freestyle event. He has won all his three golds at these Games in world record time.

Dominance

Swimming in lane 6, Phelps asserted his utter dominance while sinking his own world record in a time of 1:42.96, touching the wall an amazing 2 seconds ahead of T Park of Korea.

As the result of winning his ninth career gold medal, Phelps has joined the list of most celebrated athletes along with Mark Spitz and Carl Lewis.

Phelps, who suffered from an attention deficit syndrome when he started swimming at the age of 11, will go for his fourth and fifth golds today. One more gold will take him past Mark Spitz, who has the distinction of winning 10 Olympic golds.

Australian swimmers Stephanie Rice and Eamon Sullivan, who gave their love life a break to focus on the Olympics, can now re-evaluate their relationship.

Rice won her country’s first gold medal in the 400m individual medley and Sullivan broke the world 100m freestyle record when he got his 4 X 100m freestyle relay team to a flying start. Unfortunately for him, the record-breaking feat could secure his team only a bronze behind the US and France in a tight finish.

Before the Games, Sullivan had been quoted as saying: “Basically with the months ahead we are just focusing â?¦ I guess being a bit selfish that we want to swim to the best of our ability.

“We both mutually agreed that being together is something that probably won’t work during this month. So we decided to have a break.”

Rebecca Addington became the first British woman to win a swimming title in nearly half a century with a do-or-die dash in the 400-metre freestyle at the Games’ futuristic ice cube swimming complex.

Addington (4:3.22) fought off a furious challenge from American Katie Hoff (4:03.29). Joanne Jackson, also of Britain, won the bronze in 4:03.52.
(With inputs from newspapers and agencies)