Now, Belgium thrash India in hockey at Olympics

Alok Sinha

One wondered what the Indians looked more desperately for in their last round-robin game against Belgium – a win or blessed scoring shoes, magic wands, steady hands or steely minds. Well, all of it was missing at the Riverbank Arena on Tuesday.

And there you are. The Men in Blue finished without a win, without even a draw, in the hockey competition at the London Games. Tuesday evening defined their disastrous outing on a very blue turf.

India, ranked No. 10 in the world, started the match with the knowledge that they would be playing the 11-12 position match, any which way.

They were without a point and they came looking for that one win, that taste of victory which dulls the pain of a campaign gone sour.
v
After a lacklustre first 20 minutes, in which India conceded a penalty corner and then went down a goal after a Belgian counter-attack , they managed a penalty corner. The indirect try came to a nought.

Then they attacked in a wave – and found Vanasch standing tall. First Shivendra Singh, then Tushar Khandkar and then SV Sunil struck hard but in vain. In three minutes Indian had lost four clear chances.

They attacked again the last five minutes of the second half but Vanasch was waiting to foil them, sla

pping his pads with a loud thud, challenging the Indians to beat him.

They could not, not in the first half, not in the second.

DISASTER ROSTER

July 30: Lost 2-3 to Holland

India showed glimpses of brilliance before going down in the closely-fought encounter. They showed fighting spirit, especially in the second half, to give the European giants a scare

Aug 1: Lost 1-3 to NZ

The performance against the Netherlands turned out to be a flash in the pan as India, despite taking an early lead, suffered a humiliating loss.

Aug 3: Lost 2-5 to Germany

Struggling to stay in contention, India again failed to rise to the occasion. The defenders looked on haplessly as the Germans scored at will to end India’s semifinal hopes.

Aug 5: Lost 1-4 to Korea

No lessons learnt from earlier defeats. An all-round failure saw the team crashing to its fourth defeat in a row. The loss also ensured that India would finish the Games with their worst-ever performance irrespective of the result in their final league match.

Aug 7: Lost 0-3 to Belgium

The rout is complete. India will now fight with South Africa for 11-12 positions.