We are very upset, says S.V. Sunil
Inconsistency killing us, says Sreejesh

By Reet Oberoi

Indian team at London, it seems, as much clueless as we are as to what went wrong, and what is in store.

One thing certain is, they uniformly feel the team as such is over-awed by the occasion as big as the Olympics.

www.stick2hockey.com managed to speak to couple of them, PR Sreejesh and SV Sunil, and their view reflect the collective sense of the team.

The Indian hockey team spent close to two hours at training on Saturday, ahead of their Group B league match against Korea.

The team, who had looked promising going into the Olympic Games, now appear a disjointed unit. Planning, form, skills, everything has gone awary for the Men in Blue.

When asked, the players said the “inability to be consistent” was the biggest problem.
“Absolutely no area is working for us. It is the Olympics… the biggest stage.. All of us will have to take responsibility,” said forward S.V. Sunil.

“We haven’t played well so far and haven’t been able to do anything that we thought we could. The players are very, very upset with their show.”

For India, who have only focused on attacking hockey in the last one year, the strikeline has been the biggest problem. Senior strikers Shivenrda Singh and Tushar Khandker have had poor outings, while the rest seem overawed by the big stage.

“We have been poor in the attack. We haven’t utilised our chances, while our opponents have converted even half chances. Co-ordination is another problem, besides availing the penalty corners,” said Sunil.

Goalkeeper P.R. Sreejesh, who had a decent outing during the game against Germany before being replaced by skipper Bharat Chetri, said inconsistency was hurting the team. “No one has showed consistency in the team. Every team is out to win matches, and so are we. But we are not consistent.

“Small mistakes have cost us a lot, be it defence or forwardline. We are managing to reach the striking circle, but are unable to score field or penalty corner goals,” Sreejesh said.