Indian men on track for Olympic cut

MS Unnikrishnan

After playing four matches each, Indian men are riding the high ground, while the women have blotted their chances, in the Olympic Qualifying Tournament being played at the Dhyan Chand National Stadium here.

The men’s team have kept a clean slate, winning all their four matches to top the table with 12 points, while second-played Poland are on nine points. Even if India draw with Poland in their last group match tomorrow, they will sail into the semi-final while the Poles need to win the match, as France are breathing down their neck with nine points, but with an inferior goal ratio. Even if Poland beat India, unless by a very huge margin, the hosts will still top the group as they have a goal ratio of 32 for and six against while Poland have 22-9. France have a tally of 16-7, and meet the tough Canada tomorrow, and it would be beyond the ken of the French to run up a huge goal tally against the Canadians.

So far, the Indian men have played out the script as had been visualized before the tournament, though their touch-and-go 3-2 win against Canada was a matter of concern after recording impressive wins against Singapore, Italy and France. Canada stand on six points while Italy and Singapore are yet to earn a point, and even if they beat France tomorrow, their chances of moving up are slim.

So, for all intent and purpose, the fight for the top slot is likely to be between India and Poland, and India’s morale would get a big boost if they can conjure up their fifth consecutive victory tomorrow, which will be a big plus for them if they have to meet the Poles in the title contest to decide the Olympic qualifiers on Sunday.

India have so far played entertaining, fast-pace hockey, scoring many field goals and striking gold through Sandeep Singh’s penalty corner drag-flicks. He has knocked in nine goals, and when India earn penalty corners, and Sandeep takes his position to strike, the stands get energized, and he has always delivered.

But overall, the India have played as unit, attacking and defending with speed and verve, and boast of many players who can score surprise, uncanny goals. The good part is that, India keep their match tempo and momentum till the very end, and barring Canada’s two surprise goals in two minutes in the second half of the second half, the hosts have not conceded last-minute goals. Sandeep’s penalty corner goal played the rescue act against Canada, but in the next two matches, the hosts should ensure that they fully seize their chances to score—they wasted many goal-bearing moves against Canada—and ensure that they don’t back-pedal if the opponents strike first.

The Indian eves’ familiar failing was that they not only squandered easy scoring chances, but also got demoralized when the rival team forged ahead. Their defeat to South Africa have blotted their copy book as they are now placed third in the pool on seven points behind South Africa (10) and Italy (8). But the group is still open, and if they can pull it off against Italy tomorrow, they will still be in the reckoning for a berth in the final.

Friday’s fixtures:

Women: Ukraine vs Poland (10 a.m), South Africa vs Canada (2 p.m) and Italy vs India (6 p.m).Men: Italy vs Singapore (12 noon), France vs Canada (4 p.m) and India vs Poland (8 p.m).