India face tough task against Britain
ANTWERP: Laid low after suffering a 0-4 thrashing at the hands of Belgium, India face a tough task in their bid to finish on the podium when they take on a tenacious Great Britain in the bronze medal match of the men’s Hockey World League Semifinals here tomorrow.
India, who are four places below world number five Great Britain in FIH rankings, will need to produce a much improved show than they produced in their semifinal loss against hosts Belgium in which Sardar Singh’s team suffered a 0-4 drubbing last evening at the KHC Dragons Stadium.
Great Britain suffered a 1-3 loss to World champions Australia in the other semifinal, but not without giving the top-ranked Australian outfit a tough fight. It was just a few passes that went to the Australian strikers that let the British defence down.
The focus will be on the Indian ability to recover from the thrashing at the hands world number four Belgium, who the Indians have always given a good contest. Just one or two goals have separated the teams in their contests in recent years.
The Indian team has shown its mettle in recovering from a big loss to Australia and make the last-four round, and now the boys face a stiff task of doing so in the medal game. PTI