We missed many chances, says women’s team coach Kumar

Y. B. SARANGI

Indian women’s hockey team coach C.R. Kumar said the side suffered because of the missed chances in its opening match against Ukraine in the Olympic qualifier at the National Stadium here on Saturday.

Following India’s unexpected 1-1 draw against Ukraine, Kumar said, “We didn’t capitalise on our chances and missed three points. I am disappointed. It was a lesson for us.”

The Indian coach was not satisfied with some umpiring decisions which went against the home team. “It (stopping the match) was a wrong decision, the first penalty corner was not completed, the ball was still in play but the hooter went off.

“As per rules, we should have been given the second penalty corner. Later, when I spoke to the technical officials and on-field umpires, they agreed it was a mistake.

“That (disallowing a goal) was also a mistake on the part of the umpire because the ball had already crossed the line and hit the inside post,” he added.

Indian captain Asunta Lakra said poor coordination among the players did not help the side. “There was lack of combination among us and there was lack of control from the forward line. Otherwise, we could have won the match by a big margin.”

Despite the huge win over Singapore, Indian men’s team coach Michael Nobbs expected a better performance from the players.

“Our passing was good but I am not satisfied with the performance, I am never satisfied actually, we are not even close to where we want to be, we haven’t peaked yet and neither do we expect to peak now.

“We practised a few patterns in playing to score goals but we have to be more thorough. We have utilised just 70 per cent of our potential.

“It was a one-sided game but there is always things to be learnt from every game. We had 20-25 shots at the goalpost but we need to be more ruthless,” he added.

On India’s poor penalty corner conversion rate, just one off six, vice-captain Sardara said, “We need to be better in this area and also in trapping the ball.”