Tokyo qualification sealed, now to iron out the flaws
BHUBANESWAR: Indian hockey can heave a sigh of relief that both teams have qualified for the Tokyo Olympics. The men eased past Russia while women made things tough for themselves against United States before clinching the double-leg FIH Olympic Qualifiers here.
However, the games exposed shortcomings that the teams will have to iron out before action starts at Oi Hockey Stadium in Tokyo on July 25. India, the most successful men’s Olympics hockey team (eight gold, one silver and two bronze) have not even qualified for the semi-final since winning gold at boycott-marred Moscow in 1980. They thrashed 22nd-ranked Russia 11-3 on aggregate here, winning 4-2 and 7-1. The women edged out USA 6-5 (5-1, 1-4).
Both teams got off to poor starts but showed fighting spirit, especially the women who looked down and out at half-time in the second match, trailing 0-4 with USA having tied the aggregate scores. Skipper Rani Rampal’s goal then sealed qualification in regulation time.
“We all can see, we played well in one half. Now we have to do it for the entire match. I am proud of the fighting spirit,” said Sjoerd Marijne, chief coach. Marijne, who switched from the men’s to women’s team after the 2016 Commonwealth Games, had seen this problem with the men too. “We played Germany in the third-fourth place match of the 2017 Hockey World League Finals and (they) had no energy. It was the same here. But I am happy we changed it. That’s the quality of this team.”
Penalty corner is another area, but the coaches were not worried. The men recovered ground by converting four of their five PCs in the second match. The women failed to convert four PCs on Saturday. “I am not worried. We may not have scored many PCs here but (drag flicker) Gurjit has proved herself many times. You have to look worldwide how the conversion of the PCs is and then you see that we are still high on that,” said the Dutch coach.
In the build-up to Tokyo, Indian women are likely to play New Zealand and Australia in March-April besides featuring in the Asian Champions Trophy.
Men’s coach Graham Reid picked two weak areas—finishing and deep defence. The camp will start here in two weeks. “We are creating a lot of opportunities, which is great, but we need to get more returns. Also in deep defence, we have to get tighter,” the Australian said. India will play in the Pro League next year, taking on top teams like Belgium, Argentina, Australia, Netherlands, Germany, Great Britain and Spain.
“I told the players soon after the match ‘we have nine months. Just get better and better.’ That’s our plan. Focus on the process, results will take care of itself,” said Reid. “The Pro League is a big opportunity to work for the Olympics, and there are a lot of games during that period. It’s great we have a squad of 33 and we can rotate players. If all of them play all those games, they won’t be in the best shape to play at the Olympics. You always dream of an Olympics podium finish. I was lucky to win one as a player (silver in 1992, Barcelona) and those memories are things you hold on to. That’s what we need to bring to this team and give it a big shot.”