Rio Olympics 2016 India Hockey - The History Book of Indian Hockey

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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India Men’s Hockey team won 3-2 against Ireland in opening encounter: Rio Olympics 2016

Indian Hockey Admin — Sun, 07 Aug 2016 05:08:53 +0000

India, ranked fifth in the world made its presence felt in Rio de Janerio with a 3-2 win over Ireland in their opening encounter at the 2016 Summer Games.
It was a rematch of their fixture from the recently-concluded Six Nations Tournament which had seen the Men in Blue clinch a 2-1 win courtesy goals from Talwinder Singh and Sardar Singh. Going up against an upbeat Irish side who has qualified for the first time since 1908, the Indians had everything to play for as they took the field.
The hunger was apparent in Rupinder Pal Singh and VR Raghunath as India earned four penalty corners in the first quarter. Although they missed the first three shots, ace drag-flicker Raghunath started the proceedings after he found the back of the net in the 15th minute.

Goals from VR Raghunath and Rupinder Pal Singh helped India clinch a convincing 3-2 win over Ireland.

The second quarter saw the Indians raising their game to execute a flurry of onslaughts on the Irish goal. Rupinder Pal Singh eventually made it 2-0 in the 27th minute from another penalty corner. An eventful second quarter led to the scoreline reading 2-0 at half-time.
India dominated the field left, right and center in the third quarter as Ireland failed to take control of the game. The midfield was stretched to its fullest where the well-experienced talisman Sardar Singh, who completed 250 caps along with fellow central pivot Manpreet rose many notches. The ‘Green Machine’ bounced back with a goal in the 45th minute, John Jermyn scoring for Ireland.
But the PR Sreejesh-led India regained their shape as the crucial third goal from Rupinder gave them a 3-1 lead. Conor Harte scored Ireland’s second goal in the final quarter to give them a glimmer of hope in the dying stage, but India held on to register a convincing 3-2 win.
Two wins from five games will be enough to see the ‘Men in Blue’ out of a tough ‘Group B’ which includes Canada, Germany, Netherlands, and Argentina.
India will be playing Germany in the next game on August 8.

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