Hindustan Times: Hockey boys show gumption

RIO DE JANEIRO: The Indian hockey team showed that it is no longer a team that’s bogged down by past failures. That it’s not a bunch that will let one slip get its basics into a twist. It’s not often that a team can bounce back from an excruciating loss that could have been saved had the defense kept its nerve and composure for a scant three seconds more.

On Tuesday, our hockey men proved that they can take their punches, roll with them and then come back to hit harder next day. The 2-1 loss to Germany the day before seemed to be a mere bad dream as the team showed that it has the verve to keep things in control. Of course now that we have won, enough paeans will be sung on how the defense was solid and the offense amazing. However, that was not entirely the case. India began well and the early goal with just seven minutes 51 seconds on the clock did set the early tenor of the match. Chinglensana Kangujam’s chameleonic shift from stopper to shot-taker off India’s second penalty corner caught the Argentinians off guard, the dummy worked well and early in the match itself India got the breather it needed to shake off the final bits of the German hangover.

UNDER PRESSURE

The third quarter saw the lead double as another Manipuri player, Kothajit Khadangbam, cracked one in. Even though India defended well, there were too many chances allowed to the opposition as the match wore on. India kept giving the ball away. And expectedly enough early in the fourth quarter, Gonzalo Peillat scored back via a penalty corner. That seemed to signal that the quarter may well go Argentina’s way. And it did.

Four penalty corners towards the end made it a touch-and-go matter. A goal-line save by Olympic debutant Surender Kumar and another by VR Raghunath was bolstered by the solid keeping of captain PR Sreejesh. “To make saves at crucial times and to keep the team alive is the job of the goalie,” an elated Sreejesh told reporters later. In the final stages of the match, he was not backed by his forwards as India did not convert even the few chances that came their way.

This win will go a long way in boosting the confidence of the team as this is the first time that we have had two wins at the Olympics since Sydney 2000. We have also prevailed against Argentina after a gap of seven years with the last win coming in 2009. They had a win and a draw in their first two matches here and are also the bronze medallists of the 2014 World Cup, so India can be justifiably proud for pulling off this win.

BREATHING SPACE

The new format in hockey has come as a breather for India. Literally. Running out of breath on the demanding synthetic turf has been the main bane of Indian hockey. Now, instead of two equal halves of 35 minutes there are four quarters, each of 15 minutes. Of course, the rolling substitution introduced earlier also aided this but now the whole team as a unit is allowed far more rest than had been the norm.

Further, the new Olympics format of having two pools (six teams each) with the top-four qualifying for the quarters makes things simpler than the earlier ask of being in the top two of the group in order to make the semis. The shorter quarters make this also something akin to T20 of hockey as the quicker action and adequate breaks mean that the chances for upsets have grown. India now have two wins from three matches with six points. We next play Netherlands on August 11. It would be in India’s interest to be placed either second or third in the group so that we avoid the top team from the other group for that’s likely to be Australia. Coming in fourth in the group won’t be a comfortable place to be in and with Canada slated to be the last match of the league stage, it looks like India is not in a bad place at all.