RIO olympics - The History Book of Indian Hockey

India Men’s Hockey Team made its 2nd win in Rio 2016 Olympics, India vs Argentina

Indian Hockey Admin — Thu, 11 Aug 2016 10:10:43 +0000

India men’s hockey team defeated Argentina 2-1 in their third Pool B encounter at the Olympic Hockey Centre on Tuesday to climb third in the standings with two wins to their name.
Manipur’s Chinglensana Kangujam scored the opening goal for India in the eighth minute and the lead was doubled in the third quarter by another Manipuri player – Kothajit Khadangbam.
Similar to their second game against Germany on Monday, in which India faltered and conceded a last-gasp goal to concede the game, the VR Raghunath-led team played a jittery final quarter with Argentina reducing the deficit via penalty corner goal by Gonzalo Peillet early in Q4. With less than eight minutes to go, Argentina earned a barrage of penalty corners but India goalkeeper PR Sreejesh made three crucial saves to deny drag-flick specialist Peillet. India just about managed to stave off Argentina to register a close win. This is the first time India have beaten Argentina since 2009.
India started the match aggressively and earned their first penalty corner of the match in the 7th minute when defender Ramandeep Singh hit the leg of an Argentinean defender inside the circle. Rupinder Pal Singh’s flick was blocked, but in the next minute India got their second PC and this time Chinglensana found the net to hand India 1-0 lead in the first quarter.

India got lucky in the dying minutes of the first quarter, when Argentina were denied by the post.
In the next quarter, Argentina looked in better rhythm and were on the charge. While India dominated the play in Q1, the lion’s share of possession in Q2 was enjoyed by their opponent. Argentina got close to a goal in Q2 but a fantastic block by Sreejesh helped India maintain their one goal advantage going in to the long break. In the third, India got the better of Argentina and Kothajit Khadangbam doubled the lead scoring a field goal five minutes in to the third quarter.
In the final quarter Argentina clawed their way back into the game and dominated the proceedings. Their sustained pressure inside the D led to as many as four penalty corners, but Sreejesh put aside his disappointment of conceding a goal against Germany with three seconds left on the clock, with three brilliant saves to keep India ahead.

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Indian hockey team will not participate in Rio Olympics march past

Indian Hockey Admin — Fri, 05 Aug 2016 06:09:51 +0000

The Indian hockey team representing India at the Rio Olympics will not participate in the march-past because their jerseys are not ready.
India’s hockey team which has garnered a total of 8 gold medals for the country was left hapless when they saw that more than 8 of their jerseys were misfit and were not suitable for the players. As the march-past will be televised live worldwide, the hockey players have decided to skip the event for fear of being embarrassed at the global stage.
Equipped with improper jersey kit, this is another blow to the morals of the athletes who are hoping that they will bag the gold medal for India.
Indian Olympic Association (IOA) President N Ramachandran will be liable to answer for this gross negligence at such an important stage in the Olympics.

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Rio 2016: India Beat Spain 2-1 in Men’s Hockey Warm-Up

Indian Hockey Admin — Wed, 03 Aug 2016 10:19:28 +0000

Akashdeep Singh and Rupinder Pal Singh scored as the Indian men’s hockey team defeated Spain 2-1 in a practice match ahead of the Olympic Games here.
Incidentally, the Indians had lost two practice games to Spain in Madrid before coming here, but on Sunday evening they played at a good pace and the goals came to boost Indian spirits.
While forward Akashdeep showed his finishing skills, Rupinder sounded the board via a penalty corner.
Skipper PR Sreejesh said: “The weather was very hot in Spain. We were coming from very good weather in Bengaluru and it was very hot and humid, almost 40 degrees in Madrid. So it was good to get a game in Rio against Spain and we played well.”
There will be another training session or two and then a second practice match against another team.
The Indians are looking at their first medal in hockey since 1980, when they won a gold. Earlier India have won eighth gold medals from 1928 onwards. They also won a silver medal in 1960 and bronze in 1968 and 1972.
India will open their Rio 2016 campaign against Ireland on August 6.
Meanwhile, Australia were much improved in their second practice match, coming out 5-2 winners over arch-rivals Germany thanks to a double from Blake Govers and strikes from Jake Whetton, Eddie Ockenden and reserve Jeremy Hayward.
The performance was a marked improvement on their 0-3 defeat to Argentina 24 hours earlier, played at a higher tempo with more energy and a customary Australia-Germany intensity.
The men in green and gold raced to a two-goal lead, only to be pegged back by a typically resolute Germany before the first break. A goalless second period had the game delicately poised going into the final quarter of an hour, before three strikes in a feisty final period earned Australia victory.
“We want to get better every day,” said midfielder Eddie Ockenden, playing in his third Olympic Games. “It was a big improvement in attitude and also our skills. That was pleasing.
“We’ve never travelled 11 hours time difference, so we didn’t really know how we’d be feeling. We want to get better every day, get over the jet lag, start training better and harder. And we’ll be looking for further improvement in our final practice game against Ireland on Wednesday.”

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Hockey India players living in ‘Poorly Furnished’ apartments at the Olympic village in Rio de Janeiro

Indian Hockey Admin — Tue, 02 Aug 2016 11:59:20 +0000

Indian Hockey team players, who are currently in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to participate in Rio Summer Olympics 2016, are living in a room with no facility for even sitting. Roelant Oltmans, coach of India hockey team, shared pictures of players sitting on bean bags in their apartment in Games Village. Oltamas lashed out at India’s Chef de Mission Rakesh Gupta complaining that apartments given to India Hockey players are not properly furnished.
Roelant Oltmans on Monday wrote a letter to India’s Chef de Mission Rakesh Gupta and complained that players’ apartments are not properly furnished. “The apartments of the Rio Olympics are not furnished properly,” Oltmans, who is also the High Performance Director of Indian hockey, wrote in his letter. After receiving no response, agitated Hockey India president Narinder Batra shared pictures of players sitting on bean bags on social media.

India hockey team players at their apartment in Games Village

In the pictures shared by Batra, the players can been seen lying on the bean bags and the apartments are empty with no basic furniture. Batra lashed out at Gupta in his post saying, “Dear Mr President IOA and Chef De Mission Indian contingent… have you all and IOA Staff who have gone to Rio, are on some kind of a Paid Holiday?”
Angry Narinder Batra shared his agony at Gupta on social media saying “I certainly hope you want Indian teams to do well…” India Hockey coach Roelant Oltmans had written a letter explaining what kind of problems players have been facing at Rio Olympics as their rooms lack basic facility. But India’s Chef de Mission Rakesh Gupta didn’t reply to his complaints.
Players of several other countries have also complained about the unfurnished apartments at the Olympic Village. Recently, an Australian team had to be evacuated from their building at the Olympic Village because of a fire in the basement.

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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.

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Sultan Azlan Shah Cup will provide good opportunity to try out new things before Rio Olympics

Indian Hockey Admin — Tue, 22 Mar 2016 11:51:19 +0000

“India has a good record in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup and we would like to keep it that way. Being an Olympic year, this tournament assumes special importance as it will give us an idea where we stand. Playing against good teams like Australia, New Zealand and Pakistan and not to forget hosts Malaysia will give the team critical competition exposure. It will be a good opportunity trying out new things and new combinations in the tournament to see if they work,” said Sardar Singh Indian men’s hockey team captain.

Sardar Singh, captain of the men’s hockey team

The Indian Men Hockey Team for the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup:
GOALKEEPER
1. Harjot Singh
2. Akash Anil Chikte
DEFENDERS
3. Rupinder Pal Singh
4. Jasjit Singh Kular
5. Kothajit Singh
6. Surender Singh
7. Harmanpreet Singh
MIDFIELDERS
8. Danish Mujtaba
9. Chinglensana Singh
10. Manpreet Singh
11. Sardar Singh (C)
12. S K Uthappa
13. Harjeet Singh
FORWARDS
14. Talwinder Singh
15. Mandeep Singh
16. SV Sunil (VC)
17. Ramandeep Singh
18. Nikkin Thimmaiah

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