Indian hockey on Monday sunk into its darkest pit of despair as the men’s team failed to qualify for the Olympics for the first time in 80 years following a shocking 0-2 defeat against Britain in the final of the qualifying tournament here.
Faced with a do-or-die battle, India’s Olympic dream came down crashing as Barry Middleton (4th) and Richard Mantell (10th) scored for Britain in the nerve-wracking final at the Prince of Wales Country Club.
Eight times gold medallist India thus failed to make it to the Olympics for the first time since their debut in 1928, adding an ignominious chapter to the game’s history which has seen more lows than highs in recent times. Britain showed a lot of steel in dealing with the massive pressure they were subjected to by the Indian forwards. The difference was that Britain, who had beaten India 3-2 in the league, capitalised on the two early chances that came their way, while the Indians did not.
India could never really settle down and the two yellow cards to their key players, midfielder Sardara Singh and forward Prabhjot Singh, filled their cup of woe. India also blew five penalty corners with neither VR Raghunath, with his drag-flicks, nor Dilip Tirkey, with his direct hits, able to convert. India seemed to run out of ideas and there was predictability in their attacks with the long balls to the wings in much use. Middleton scrambled the ball in from a Ashley Jackson pass with the Indian defence caught square in the very fourth minute and then Richard Mantell drag-flicked a 10th minute penalty corner to put Britain on top.
Old tale
India did knit together a few moves, but at the finish it was the same old tale of wrong passes and at times, too much of individual play. With the time ticking by, India made desperate attempts force a penalty corner and finally succeeded in the 31st minute. But Raghunath failed to beat goal keeper Alistair McGregor.
A little earlier, Sardara was sent out with two green cards in the 26th minute and his absence meant another round of reshuffling that affected Indian team balance.
In between the Indian attacks, Britain squeezed a couple of more raids and nearly scored twice with Jackson and then Tindall shooting wide of target. On resumption, the Indians attacked with some urgency but they suffered a setback when Prabhjot was sent out with a yellow card suspension for deliberate stick-check.
Earlier, Russia defeated Austria 6-3 to finish overall third while Chile overcame Mexico 9-3 in the play-off for 5-6 positions.
Final standings: Great Britain 1; India 2; Russia 3; Austria 4; Chile 5; Mexico 6. Special Awards: Fairplay: Austria; Best goalkeeper: Alejandro Vargas Garcia (Mexico); Top scorer: Felipe Montegu (Chile, 11 goals); Player of the tournament: Prabhjot Singh (India).
