Five main factors of Indian hockey’s ‘historic’ debacle at Olympics

The hockey team has does it again. They have sunk even deeper into the abyss, and this time the revival hopes look really bleak. TOI analyzes five main factors that led to Indian hockey’s ‘historic’ debacle at the Games, where they failed to win even a single match, a first for them in Olympics…

FAULTY PREPARATIONS

Coach Michael Nobbs did not get much time to test his team against quality opposition in the run-up to the mega event. Their only tough tournament came in the test event for the Olympics in May where they failed miserably.

OVER-RELIANCE ON STRIKERS

Nobbs perhaps made a grave error by relying too much on the strikers. Instead of having specialist defenders, he moved Ignace Tirkey back from the midfield while keeping Sandeep Singh and VR Raghunath, known better as drag-flickers, as defenders. The move backfired as India conceded 18 goals in London.

WHERE’S THE GAMEPLAN?

Be it passing, trapping, defence or attack, India were found wanting in almost all areas of the game. The strikers fared poorly, the midfield looked ineffective and there was virtually no defence. The Indians looked completely lost in the field and allowed their rivals to dictate terms.

FITNESS WOES

The players were not ready, neither physically nor mentally. Though the coaches worked on their physical fitness in the run-up to the Olympics, it became clear during the matches that there was hardly any improvement. After losing the first two games, they completely lost their way, failing to regroup themselves to mount a comeback.

LACK OF FOCUS

The players probably thought they had achieved their goal even before the start of the Olympics when they won the qualifiers. Making it to the Games seemed a far bigger objective for the team then doing well in the Games. The team celebrated the success in the qualifiers in a grand way, when in reality it was just the beginning of the journey.