India are out of medal contention at the Rio Olympics after Belgium came back from a goal down to win 3-1 and dash the hopes of millions of Indians who were expecting an improved performance to see them through to the semi- finals
India's Sreejesh Parattu reacts after loosing at the end of the men's quarterfinal field hockey Belgium vs India match of the Rio 2016 Olympics Games at the Olympic Hockey Centre in Rio de Janeiro. Pic/AFP
India are out of medal contention at the Rio Olympics after Belgium came back from a goal down to win 3-1 and dash the hopes of millions of Indians who were expecting an improved performance to see them through to the semi- finals.
India's Sreejesh Parattu reacts after loosing at the end of the men's quarterfinal field hockey Belgium vs India match of the Rio 2016 Olympics Games at the Olympic Hockey Centre in Rio de Janeiro. Pic/AFP
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Goalkeeper Sreejesh was in tremendous form, saving numerous attacks by the Belgians, but was let down by his teammates who were just not able to raise the bar in a crucial game.
Belgium had ball possession for almost the entire game, but it was a long pass from Harmanpreet Singh from the 23 metres that Akashdeep Singh scored an opportunistic goal to give India the lead and raise hopes of an upset win against the number one team from Pool 'A'.
Incidentally, the other three qualifiers for the semi- finals are from Pool 'B', in which India finished 4th.
The few stray chances that came our way in terms of scoring were not capitalised by Akashdeep Singh. From one such good combined move, SV Sunil found Akashdeep on top of the circle but the latter was off mark with a back hander which he is normally very good at.
And then in yet another move, Sunil gave a beautiful cross across the Belgian goal which may have been a bit beyond Nikkin Thimmiah's reach. I felt, he should have flung himself to divert the ball towards the goal because, it is these half chances that can surprise the opponents.
Nikkin has ended the tournament without getting his name on the scorers list which will be very disappointing for the youngster who is capable of a much better showing.
Down 1-3 Indian coach Roelant Oltmans in a surprise move took out goalkeeper Sreejesh to add an extra player to bolster the attack with nearly ten minutes left in the last quarter. It was a very bold move and I thought it was the need of the hour.
The writer was a member of India's 1980 Moscow Olympics gold medal-winning hockey team
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