Rio Olympics Hockey: Indian Men’s Team suffer second defeat, lose 1-2 to Netherlands

Indian Hockey Admin — Fri, 12 Aug 2016 06:06:20 +0000

A combative India muffed five penalty corners in the fag end and went down fighting 1-2 to the Netherlands in their fourth Pool B match of the Olympic men’s hockey competition here today.
With six points from four matches, India is at third place and will play Canada in the last game of the pool. Assured of a quarter-final berth, India will end up third in the poll if it wins against Canada.
For all their early exuberance, the Dutch’s frustration was rising as they were not able to get a breakthrough. However, as the second session opened, the Dutch earned their first penalty corner but Mink Van Der Meerden failed to beat goal keeper Sreejesh, but on the rebound Rogier Hoffman struck to give them the lead in the 32nd minute (1-0).
India defended deep in the closing stages of the third quarter, though SV Sunil and Raghunath were shown a yellow card each, leaving India down to nine men.
The Dutch would take full advantage of being a man up in the final quarter and stormed through with a series of penalty corners. Sreejesh stood strong, saving three in a row, before Van Der Meerden scored to give them the lead with six minutes of the game left (2-1).
After the game, captain Sreejesh was not happy with the result. “We muffed our chances. We can’t look at it as five PCs, it’s just one taken five times. This is the difference, we should convert in the dying minutes. I wasn’t surprised, it was a strategy. We needed to put pressure with an extra player and it worked, We earned 6 PC in the last five minutes.
“We are in the same position. We haven’t gone down. Winning two matches is crucial, rest is bonus. That will decide where you stand in the pool. It is better to win as many matches as possible.”
“We controlled the game well, we got opportunities. When we had nine players on the field, even then we controlled the game well. We could not convert in the end, we should have drawn the game. Like in the match against Germany, a small error cost us the game,” he added.

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Sushila Chanu Pukhrambam will be leading the Indian Women’s Hockey Team in Rio

Indian Hockey Admin — Mon, 18 Jul 2016 09:53:54 +0000

Sushila Chanu Pukhrambam will be leading the Indian women’s hockey team when they make their comeback appearance at the Olympic stage after a hiatus of 36 years, next month at Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.
Having just been handed the reins over from regular skipper Ritu Rani following a controversial exclusion of the latter from the national side, for the 24-year-old halfback from Manipur it would, no doubt, seem to be a mammoth task to perform.
With over a hundred senior appearances under her belt, Sushila certainly has the requisite experience in controlling matters from the backline, but with her being handed the captain’s role with less than a month to go for Rio 2016, quite a number of heads have been turned.

Sushila Chanu Pukhrambam new Indian women’s hockey team Captain

Although it’s the first time she will don the skipper’s armband for the Indian Eves, she was the central figure in India’s historic Bronze Medal win – defeating England in a penalty shootout – at the 2013 Junior Women’s Hockey World Cup held in Germany’s Monchengladbach. Therefore, Chanu is no stranger to leading teams at crucial stages in the international arena.
However, at the moment, the new captain is a figure of confidence. She is ready to rise to the occasion and has assured us of a positive show that would earn the Indian team at least a quarter-final berth after group stage victories over USA and Japan and a tight contest against Argentina.

The post Sushila Chanu Pukhrambam will be leading the Indian Women’s Hockey Team in Rio first appeared on The History Book of Indian Hockey.

Rio de Janeiro - The History Book of Indian Hockey

Rio Olympics Hockey: Indian Men’s Team suffer second defeat, lose 1-2 to Netherlands

Sushila Chanu Pukhrambam will be leading the Indian Women’s Hockey Team in Rio