Do-or-die battle for Indian eves

It is do or die for Indian women. Their scratchy performance has landed them on thin ice and they are now left with a solitary chance against Italy to revive their hopes to qualify for the London Olympics.

For the home side, it is a script that has gone horribly wrong. Their tepid start against Ukraine (1-1) was erased by a dominating performance against lesser ranked Canada (4-1) and Poland (3-0) before South Africa exposed their shortcomings on Wednesday.

The 5-2 battering by a hungry Proteas side not only demoted India to the third place on the points table but also sagged their dream of playing in the Olympics, for the first time since 1980.

The start remains an unsolved puzzle for the Indian girls. A slow start had a bearing in their previous matches and against South Africa it surfaced glaringly. The home side put themselves under pressure and looked tight against the lively Proteas. The South Africans’ pace also proved to be testing for the Indian girls whose fitness had little to boast about.

The second half portrayed a gloomy testimony to the fact with the Indians conceding three goals and failing to hold their positions. The body language mirrored the crushing defeat: out of breath, shoulders stooped and heads low.

They, however, will have to quickly put the defeat behind them. Though ranked 19th compared to India’s 13th, Italy is no pushover and is the only unbeaten team in the tournament after South Africa. In fact, the Italians’ 1-1 draw against the Proteas gave the top-ranked team a brief setback, with India leapfrogging to the top place temporarily.

Italy are in second place with eight points followed by India who are at seven.

Coach C R Kumar said they have analysed Italy's matches and promised a better show tomorrow. “Against South Africa, we lost more because of our mistakes. We erred inside the circle, the marking and tackling was not proper. We saw the video of the match and had a talk with the girls. Hopefully the mistakes will not be repeated,” Kumar told Deccan Herald.

“We are aware of Italy’s strengths and weaknesses.  We have a plan in place and are confident of winning.”