Articles by "Breda"
Breda (Netherlands), Jun 29: India would look to eke out at least a draw against hosts Netherlands in their last round robin match here tomorrow, a result that will be enough for the eight-time Olympic champions to grab a second consecutive final spot at the Champions Trophy hockey tournament.
India are currently placed second in the standings with seven points from two wins, one loss and a draw. Defending and world champions Australia are atop the table with 10 points and have already secured a berth in Sunday's summit clash.
As per the rules of the six-nation tournament, the top two teams from the round robin stage will play in the final.
For India the equation is simple -- a draw tomorrow would surely guarantee their place in what can be termed as a repeat of 2016 Champions Trophy final in London.
For Netherlands, it is a must-win match as only a victory can ensure their place in the final.
In the other inconsequential match of the day, in-form Australia are considered as hands down favourites against Olympic champions Argentina.
Under new chief coach Harendra Singh, India could not have asked for a better start to their campaign here. The Indians mauled arch-rivals Pakistan 4-0 before stunning Argentina 2-1.
But thereafter, India lost to Australia 2-3 after a valiant fight before conceding a late goal to draw 1-1 against Belgium last night.
But the results of the opening two games hold India in good stead as they now need just a draw against Netherlands to secure their final berth.
Even though Ramandeep Singh's injury hurt India badly, but the strikers have been in good form in this tournament. The likes of Mandeep Singh, Dilpreet Singh and Lalit Upadhayay have lived upto expectations but SV Sunil looked a pale shadow of himself.
The defenders too did a decent job but in the last two games against Australia and Belgium, they crumbled when put under immense pressure.
Experienced PR Sreejesh has been phenomenal under the goal for India and it solely because of his heroics, India managed to garner a point against Belgium yesterday.
But the major cause of concern for India would be their penalty corner conversion rate. Despite earning a handful of penalty corners in the last four games, India converted just three through Harmanpreet Singh.
And Harendra would need to address these issues if India want to win their maiden Champions Trophy title in the last edition of the tournament.
Even though India need just a draw to progress, Harendra and his team would definitely go for the kill against the hosts tomorrow.
Breda (Netherlands), Jun 23 : India once again reasserted their supremacy over Pakistan as they clinically decimated the arch-rivals 4-0 in the opening match of the Champions Trophy hockey tournament, here today.
Coming into the tournament on the back of a disastrous Commonwealth Games campaign at the Gold Coast, where they finished a disappointing fourth, the Indians scored four fantastic field goals to make intentions clear that they meant business here.
Ramandeep, who was dropped from the CWG squad, answered his critics in style finding the net in 26th minute before young Dilpreet Singh (54th), Mandeep Singh (57th) and Lalit Upadhayay (60th) too joined the scorers list.
India, eyeing its maiden Champions Trophy title, will play reigning Olympic champions Argentina in their next round-robin league match tomorrow.
The win also marked a positive start to India's chief coach Harendra Singh's fourth stint with the senior national side. Harendra took over the reigns of the team after swapping roles with Sjoerd Marijne, following India's dreadful CWG campaign.
The Indians looked a compact side in all departments of the game with the strikers utilising the opportunities that came their way while the defence came up with a superlative show during the entire 60 minutes to keep Pakistani forwards at bay.
The dominating victory also can be looked upon as a sweet revenge for India after Pakistan, which is being coached by former India coach and High Performance Director Roelant Oltmans, scored a late equaliser to eke out a 1-1 draw in Gold Coast.
The Indians started positively and applied pressure on the Pakistani defence from the word go and in the process secured a penalty corner in the 13th minute but Harmanpreet's attempt was saved by goalkeeper Imran Butt.
India got another set piece soon after the start of second quarter but once again wasted the chance.
But it didn't took long for India to break the deadlock. In the 26th minute Ramandeep deflected in a Simranjeet Singh's reverse pass to start the proceedings.
A minute before half time, an agile Butt once again came to Pakistan's rescue keeping away Vivek Prasad's deflection from top of the circle as went into the break with a slender one goal advantage.
Pakistan, however, came out all guns blazing after the change of ends and dominated the proceedings in the third quarter with repeated raids but failed to break the resolute Indian defence.
Two minutes into third quarter, Ali Shan scored an opportunistic goal but to their dismay found the goal being disallowed for a foul after India's Harmanpreet Singh asked for the referral.
Minutes later, Indian goalkeeper PR Sreejesh made a fine save to deny Toseeq Arshad.
Pakistan kept up the pressure and earned a penalty corner in the 43rd minute but to no avail. After successfully weathering the storm, India doubled its lead in the 54th minute through 17-year-old Dilpreet, who beautifully picked up a long pass from Simranjeet and then dodged past an onrushing Butt to slot home.
Down by two goals, Pakistan were forced to withdraw its goalkeeper for an extra player but the move backfired as Indian pumped in two more goals in an open net in a span of three minutes to register the convincing win.
First Mandeep tucked in an empty net a measured long ball from Varun Kumar and then Lalit dived full stretch to deflect in Ramandeep's pass just at the stroke of hooter to add salt to Pakistan's woes. PTI
Breda (Netherlands), Jun 22 : The Indian hockey team would be aiming for a fresh start, putting behind the disappointment of a poor Commonwealth Games campaign, when it begins its pursuit of a maiden Champions Trophy title, taking on arch-rivals Pakistan in the opening clash, here tomorrow.
Asian champions India have never won the Champions Trophy in its last 36 editions but will be hoping to claim the feat in the tournament's last edition here.
The best India has fared in the tournament was the runners-up finish at the 2016 event in London, losing to Australia in a shoot-out.
Claiming the title would be easier said than done for the eight-time Olympic champions as they come into the tournament on the back of a disastrous campaign at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, where they finished fourth.
The disappointing finish triggered a change in head coach's position with Harendra Singh taking charge from Dutchman Sjoerd Marijne, who moved back to his old position as coach of the Indian women's team.
World's best six teams compete in the Champions Trophy and this year's line-up include reigning Olympic champions Argentina, world no.1 Australia, Belgium, hosts Netherlands, Pakistan besides India.
India will open against Pakistan before taking on Argentina (on June 24), Australia (June 27), Belgium (June 28) and Netherlands (June 30).
Even though India (6th) are way ahead of Pakistan (13th) in the world rankings, but there is hardly any gap between the two teams when it comes to the head-to-head contests.
India-Pakistan encounters on the hockey turf have always been full of drama and controversies with adrenaline running high on both the sides.
And come tomorrow it won't be any different as both the neighbours would be eager to prove the other wrong.
Going by ranking and results of late, India will start favourites.
Over the past year, India had enjoyed convincing victories over Pakistan right from the final of Asian Champions Trophy in 2016 followed by a dominant double victory in the Hockey World League Semi-Final in London 2017 and the Asia Cup in Dhaka where India lifted the title after 10 years.
But under former India coach and High Performance Manager, Roelant Oltmans, Pakistan surprised India by scoring a late equaliser to earn a draw in the Commonwealth Games this year.
Incidentally, it was the first match of the tournament and penalty corners will be Pakistan's preferred weapon yet again.
For Harendra, who took over coaching of the senior team for a third time following his last stint in 2009, it will be his first real test ahead of important tournaments like the Asian Games and the season-ending World Cup in Bhubaneswar later this year.
"Getting off to a winning start is vital because it sets the momentum for the rest of the tournament. There will be no room for emotions when we take on Pakistan. The team will play against them like any other team where we go for three points," a strict Harendra said on the eve of the match.
"We have prepared well for this tournament and are confident of a good performance. Our focus will be on playing according to our structure and executing our strategies against each opponent without making any errors."
In Gold Coast, India fielded a lot of youngsters dropping a senior like Sardar Singh, but Harendra is in no mood to continue with the experimentation and has selected a strong squad purely on the basis of form in the recent national camp.
Goalkeeper PR Sreejesh has got the captaincy from Manpreet Singh, while SV Sunil and Sardar, who is just two games away from reaching 300 international caps, has been recalled to the side.
The 2014 Champions Trophy silver medallists Pakistan may have finished seventh at the CWG, but that result hides the fact that they went through the event completely unbeaten.
Four draws in the pool phase -- against Wales, India, England and Malaysia respectively -- saw Pakistan finish fourth in their five-team pool, putting them in the 7-8 classification match where they defeated Canada 3-1.
But the founding nation of the Champions Trophy, Pakistan will be determined to add to the titles that they claimed in 1978, 1980 and 1994 -- victories that all came on home soil, in Lahore (1978 / 1994) and Karachi (1980) respectively.
Pakistan's squad selected by Oltmans is a blend of experience and youth, with captain Muhammad Rizwan Sr being one of eight players to have surpassed the 100 international appearances milestone.
Shafqat Rasool is the most capped player in the group with 190 senior international appearances.
In other matches of the opening day, home favourites and European champions Netherlands will play Olympic and Pan American champions Argentina, while reigning champions Australia will take on Olympic silver-medallists Belgium. PTI
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