India prevail over Ireland in opener
Rupinder Pal scores two goals as India begin their quest for a medal in style.
India began their men's hockey campaign with a morale boosting 3-2 win against Ireland in their opening pool encounter here on Saturday.
Rupinder Pal Singh (27th and 49th) scored a brace while V.R. Raghunath (15th minute) opened the scoring for the eight time gold medallists.
It was the first win that the Indian mens's team recorded after a long time. In fact, during the last Olympics in London, they finished last after failing to win a single match.
For Ireland, John Jermyn (45th), Conor Harte (55th) reduced the margin for the Irishmen in the Pool B match.
India's next match is against two-time defending champions Germany on Monday.
A resurgent Indian men's hockey team aims to put behind the humiliation of 2012 Olympics as it opens the Rio Games campaign against Ireland on Saturday with renewed vigour and enthusiasm.
Four summers ago, India's players were happy with the Olympic qualification after the team failed to make the cut for the Beijing Games in 2008. In London, they finished 12th -- the last place in the competition.
With a rich history of eight Olympic gold medals, Indian hockey fans may not be at fault for calling the London campaign a disaster. But for a team that failed in qualification for Beijing, making it to London was an achievement in itself.
However, the manner of its losses, including one to South Africa, have left a scar in the erstwhile global hockey king's history.
However in the last four years, many things have changed in Indian hockey. With respectable performances in several world tournaments, India has shown that it can challenge the current hockey superpowers.
Just after the London Games, India's Australian chief coach Michael Nobbs, who helped the country recover from the Beijing no-show shame, left. The team's high performance director Roelant Oltmans guided the team to a silver medal at the Asian Cup.
Another Australian, Terry Walsh came in and phased out ageing veterans from the squad in his aim to make the team best in Asia. At the 2014 World Cup, India didn't qualify for the medal rounds but the margin of their losses to top teams dwindled.
Later, India was crowned Asian Games champions. The win showed the team's improving fitness levels, capable of adjusting to the modern style, blending its traditional skill-based approach to the modern fitness oriented outlook.
But another coach controversy ensured Walsh's departure, forcing Oltmans to be at the helm again. India performed decently at the 2014 Champions Trophy, losing only to Pakistan in the bronze medal match at Bhubaneswar.
India's hunt for a new fulltime chief coach started, landing Dutchman Paul van Ass who promised to deliver a tactics-oriented game.
Under him, India's upward performance remained intact, flourishing at the Hockey World League ( HWL) Semi-Final in June, 2015. But he too made a swift exit, following a tussle with the federation.
Oltmans was back at the helm for the third time and ended India's global medal drought since 1980 Olympics triumph with a bronze against the Netherlands in the HWL Final in December 2015. It helped India rise to sixth in the global rankings. IANS