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World Champion Germany: Former India captain and selector MM Somaya on Sunday termed the Indian Men's hockey team's victory over Great Britain in the quarterfinals in the Paris Olympics as "one of the most resilient" and "tactically well played" performance in recent times. Despite being a man down for three of the four quarters of the match, the Indian team defended stoutly and absorbed tremendous pressure to end the match 1-1 and then emerged 4-2 winners in the shootout to seal a place in the semifinals. This is the first time that India have reached the semifinals in two successive Olympics since the 1972 Olympics in Munich. Somaya, who was a member of the team that won India's eighth gold medal in men's hockey in the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, hailed the players for their performance in the Paris Olympics and said they have raised hopes of going through all the way. India had ended a four-decade-long medal drought by winning the bronze medal in the Tokyo Olympics. "It was one of the most resilient and the most, I think, tactically very well-played (game) given the circumstances that the team found itself in. So, I think a very resilient and very strong tactical game to pull it off in the quarterfinal at the Olympics. So the game was not a, you know, pool game or a, you know, some smaller tournament quarterfinal. To do something like this at the Olympics is amazing. It is definitely one of the most resilient performances by an Indian team," said Somaya, who was the captain of the Indian hockey team at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul. For years, lack of resilience and tactical acumen was considered as the reasons for the Indian men's team's failure to progress through key knockout matches in mega events -- conceding last-minute goals like at the 1984 Los Angeles and 2000 Sydney Olympic games that thwarted them from progressing to the last-four stage. On Sunday, resilient play and a strong tactical game saved the day as Harmanpreet Singh's team battled hard despite being reduced to 10 players at the start of the second quarter after Amit Rohidas was shown a red card. A keen observer of Indian hockey since his playing days, Somaya, who is a member of the senior men's selection committee of Hockey India, has seen the team grow in the last decade and said by reaching the semifinals in two successive Olympics, the team has lifted the stature of India in hockey. "There has been an amazing change. They have really lifted the stature of India in hockey. They have put us (in the top four). They have retained that stature we used to have earlier. May not be finishing as first, second, or third very often, but the quality of hockey they have played over the last ten years has been very, very encouraging and they have again put Indian hockey on the World map. So very happy with the style of playing," said Somaya. The 65-year-old Somaya, who was born in Madikeri, Karnataka but now settled in Mumbai for the last many decades, agreed that the team's performance was not perfect as they made many errors in midfield easily giving away the ball on many occasions, but said that could be because the players could not go up on attack too much as they were a man down. Somaya felt that the mistakes could be because the players were very tired while covering the length and breadth of the field as they had one person less. Asked what areas should the team focus on for the semifinal where they will meet the winner of the match between World Champion Germany and Argentina, Somaya the players' main concern would be to recover from Sudnay's exertions and get fully fit for the semifinal. Another area of concern will be the absence of Amit Rohidas for the next match because of the red card as that will reduce the squad to 15 players whereas the opponents will have their full quota of 16. "Recovering physically, mentally, emotionally is going to be difficult as the day after is the next match. So, you have to first recover physically, mentally, emotionally. These sorts of games drain you completely. So it has drained them. So, the first thing is they have to recover. And they, again, may at a handicap. If Amit Rohidas doesn't get a reprieve from the disciplinary committee, then he may have to (miss the semifinal). We may have to play one player short from the 16. And in today's rules of rolling substitution, where they make 40, 50 changes, you know, then your options are limited as compared to the opposition. "Recovering physically, mentally, emotionally is going to be difficult as the day after is the next match. So, you have to first recover physically, mentally, emotionally. These sorts of games drain you completely. So it has drained them. So, the first thing is they have to recover. Article Source: IANS Read the full article

Asian Champions Trophy Chennai:  Indian men's hockey team on Tuesday left from Bengaluru airport for Hangzhou to take part in the 19th Asian Games. India will kick off their campaign in the marquee event on September 24 against Uzbekistan.India are placed in Pool A, alongside Pakistan, Japan, Bangladesh, Singapore, and Uzbekistan. Pool B consists of Korea, Malaysia, China, Oman, Thailand, and Indonesia. The top two teams from each Pool will qualify for the semifinal. Harmanpreet Singh, the charismatic defender, has been tasked with leading the squad once more, with Hardik serving as his deputy."The team has been rigorously preparing for the 19th Asian Games Hangzhou 2022, and we performed well at the recently concluded Asian Champions Trophy Chennai 2023, so the goal is to maintain that level of performance. We have some tough opponents in our Pool, but we are confident in our preparation and hope to finish on the podium," said Captain Harmanpreet before leaving for Hangzhou. The team includes goalkeepers PR Sreejesh and Krishan Pathak. Varun Kumar, Amit Rohidas, Jarmanpreet Singh, Harmanpreet Singh, and Sanjay are the defenders selected for the Asian Games. The midfield will be anchored by Nilakanta Sharma, Hardik Singh, Manpreet Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Sumit, and Shamsher Singh, while the attack will be led by Abhishek, Gurjant Singh, Mandeep Singh, Sukhjeet Singh, and Lalit Kumar Upadhyay. Before leaving for Hangzhou, vice-captain Hardik expressed optimism, saying: "We have had some tough practice sessions in the lead-up to the Tournament and everyone in camp is focused, working towards the same goal. "We are in the best possible mental and physical shape to travel to Hangzhou, and we are looking forward to the tough competition in our group. The goal is to continue performing as well as we have in recent months and return from China with a medal," he concluded. India will face Uzbekistan on September 24 before taking on Singapore, Japan and Pakistan on September 26, 28 and 30 respectively. They will play their last group stage match against Bangladesh on October 2. Read the full article

October 2 Hockey India names 30 members for the Senior Men National Coaching Camp Hockey India on Saturday named the 30-member core probable group for the Senior Men's National Coaching Camp to begin in SAI, Bengaluru on 4 October 2021. After a successful campaign at the Tokyo Olympic Games where India clinched a historic Bronze Medal and ended the 41-yearlong year wait, the Indian Men's Core Group will begin the new Olympic cycle with an intent to improve upon this performance at Paris 2024. The core grouped called up for the National Coaching camp includes a mix of young and experienced players including P R Sreejesh, Krishan Bahadur Pathak, Suraj Karkera, Harmanpreet Singh, Dilpreet Singh, Surender Kumar, Gurinder Singh, Amit Rohidas, Manpreet Singh, Hardik Singh, Nilakanta Sharma, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Simranjeet Singh, Akashdeep Singh, Mandeep Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay,  Gursahibjit Singh, Shamsher Singh, Varun Kumar, Jarmanpreet Singh, Dipsan Tirkey, Nilam Sanjeep Xess, Jaskaran Singh, Rajkumar Pal, Gurjant Singh, Sumit, Shilanand Lakra, Suman Beck, Mandeep Mor, Ashis Kumar Topno. Speaking about the upcoming national coaching camp, Chief Coach Graham Reid said, "The players are coming off a long and well-deserved break. I believe they will be excited to be back in the National Camp and refocus on our goals for next year. We will be going through our performance in the Olympics both from the perspective of individual performances and as a team," expressed Reid. He further emphasized that the players must now leave behind the success of Tokyo and start fresh ahead of a hectic season in 2022. "Experiencing success in the Olympics is great but now I want the players to be mentally and physically ready for a hectic season in 2022 with some very important tournaments starting from the FIH Hockey Pro League in February. This camp will be more about strength and conditioning and we will look at making a slow start," he added. Read the full article