India lose to Pak 3-6 in Champions Challenge in Salta Argentina

Indian went down to Pakistan by 3-6 last night in Champions Challenge 2009 in Salta, Argentina.

The match was broadcast LIVE on Ten Sports. No doubts, it was Pakistan all over the place most of the time.
From the very begining, Pakistan made their intentions clear.
6 defenders and a awesome pass to Rehan Butt in the 2nd minute, Butt found the gate between Adrian's feet. This put India on defensive right away.

Few minutes later, getting a PC, they way Mahadik converted in the 8m, showed a lot of promise from Indians. But in the 1st half, thereafter, it was always Pakistan in control most of the time.

It was a treat watching Rehan Butt 2nd goal from the right of the net. Although he was very well marked and equally covered by Goalkeeper, the way he smacked the ball is nothing but insolence. His 2 goals are exemplary of his mercilessness and arrogance.

On the contrary Indians frontline lacked that confidence and Pakis were never desperate while defending either. There were moments when Indians were charging quickly towards to the Pakistan's D, but Pakistan defense line had their role defined crystal clear.

With a PC conversion by Sohail Abbas, it was 3-1 and Pakistan's shoulders were high as the players went for a lemon break.

The 4th goal scored by Haseem Khan was another one that must have made Pak fans jump from their seats.

Towards the last 10m, the Indian defensive looked tired. This was evident by the way Dhananjay Mahadik conceeded a short corner to Pakistan.
Few minutes later, as the score read 4-1, Prabhjot Singh hit the ball on the defender's foot, earning a short corner for India. The style of his shot outlined the state of Indian team, i.e. desperate. Diwakar Ram didn't make any mistake and the score was 4-2.

At certain moments, it was interesting to see that India was very much in attack and in control of the ball in the striking circle. But what came to Pak's rescue was their flawless man to man marking at this time.

2 defenders, 2 forwards, goalkeeper lying few yards away from the goal post, and 1 defender acting as a goalkeeper and Rehan Butt's brilliance was the scene at the time 5th goal.

Compared to the past, Indians passing was much better and there were no empty slap shot on the top of the D. However, Indians looked defensive and were edgy doing that. Pakistan, certainly, outplayed India as far as energy levels and capacity to cover the whole ground is concerned.

The gaps between Indian defensive line and the linksmen also was huge at times.
The interesting aspect of the the match was the number of Field Goals that Pakistan netted during this match; 4. Whereas, India got all their 3 goals from Penalty Corners.

All in all, Pakistan go into the finals with their heads high and blooming confidence levels. Let's see how they fare against the Black Sticks.

Here's the most interesting aspect of this tournament. 6 teams qualified for the Champions Trophy. These teams happen to be World's top 6 teams.
Champions Challenge has 8 lower ranked teams. Here's how they rank.

7th Pakistan
8th New Zealand
9th Belgium
10th Argentina
11th Canada
12th India
13th China
15th South Africa

Now, see the line up of Champions Challenge finals: It is Pakistan v New Zealand; very much in line with the FIH rankings.
This means India stands 9th or 10th in World Hockey. The same is true for Argentina.
So, more or less, didn't FIH rankings predict the results of Champions Challenge?

Clueless..

Five Players boycott national camp in Pune

http://www.dnaindia.com/sport/report_five-players-boycott-national-camp-in-pune_1312645

Click the above DNA link and read for yourself.

The report is about Indian Men's Hockey team practising in a camp at Pune.

Now, here are the certain ways I can read it:

1) The players who were not selected for Champions Challenge Trophy in Salta, Argentina, will feel humiliated if they attend the camp, hence they bunked it.

2) They didn't get selected hence they are cribbing about the things they don't like there.

3) They were too egoistic in their approach. They feel that they can't learn from someone who is teaching them the basics which 'they think' they are very good at.

In no way, I believe that Brasa is dictatorial. Also, the report is using certain facts to one's convenience.
It indicates that, incidently, Brasa's tiff with Sandeep Singh was followed by Sandeep Singh's departure from the team. Point to be noted here is Sandeep Singh has been declared unfit based on medical reports and will not even play the World Cup. Forgot playing the Champions Challenge.

The report says that there is a growing discontent within the team over the coaching methods adopted by Brasa.
Fair enough; as always, there will be players on the other side.
It will be unfair to judge Brasa's methods before his methods go through a thorough time test.

7th Women's Asia Cup 2009 Day 4 Results Pool Table

Some more updates are available on the website.

http://womenshockeyasiacup2009bangkok.blogspot.com/

The Points (Pool) Table, Fixtures, Results are updated as well.

7th Women's Hockey Asia Cup 2009

The following site will track all the developments,news, results, fixtures, pool standings and table of the 7th Women's Hockey Asia Cup, 2009, in Bangkok, Thailand.

http://womenshockeyasiacup2009bangkok.blogspot.com/

India beats Canada 6-0 in 7 Test Series

In the 7 Test Series, India beat Canada 6-0 thereby registering a comprehensive victory in 7 match Test Series between India and Canada hosted by Canada from 10th Oct to 24th Oct 2009.

1st Match: India Won 2-0 Tushar Khandkar(FG), Sandeep Singh(PC)
2nd Match: India Won 4-3 Dhajanay Mahadik (2PC), Mohammad Amir Khan (FG), Shivendra Singh (FG)

3rd Match: Draw 4-4 Sandeep Singh (4PC)

4th Match: India Won 2-0 Vikram Pillay(FG), Rajpal Singh(FG)

5th Match: India Won  3-1 Danish Mujtaba(FG), Sandeep Singh(PC), Sandeep Singh(PC)

6th Match: India Won 3-1 Shivendra Singh(FG), Sarwanjit Singh(FG), Shivendra Singh(FG)

7th Match: India Won 3-2 Prabhjot Singh(FG), Gurvinder Chandi(FG), Tushar Khandkar(FG)

Congratulations to the whole team and their coach, Jose Brasa!

Source: http://www.fieldhockey.ca/

I love Indian Hockey Players but...

I am deeply saddened by something that has happened recently with regards to my Hockey life.

I heard from unreliable sources, that a lot of people are upset with regards to my not-for-profit efforts in the field of Hockey. Reason, is simple: They wonder and doubt what makes me come to Hockey.

If I say, I love Hockey and that's what makes me do work and spend for Hockey -> Is percieved as, I have some hidden agenda.

Who am I? I am just another simple looking face in the crowd. I am an ordinary man in Bangalore. By his (whomsoever created this World) grace, I have things that a person of my age can dream of having.

Apart from that, I just love Hockey. But it doesn't end here. I dream of a future where children of today grow up tomorrow and feel a pride in saying, 'I love Hockey.' I don't want my children to be like the way many of my friends are. Many people in my circle don't know about Hockey. I want to change this tomorrow. I want to see a better tomorrow.

Now, what do I get? The question is simple, but if one can understand, the answer is simple too. And the answer: A happiness of my face which not many people have today.

Now the criticism and apprehension come from none other than former players, whom I respect enormously. I have seen their videos and their games. They were the best and some still are, even today.

However, I saw the darker side of their characters. I realized how ordinary human beings they are that they feel ignored and threatened by my efforts in the field of Hockey. Remember, not more than 200 people know me all over the World.

These people are the ones whom the whole World knows and loves. The media writes about them. Hence, the city, the state and the country looks up to them. They are award winners.

They say when they, who are the official lovers of the game are not involved in such activities, then who am I?

I am saddened to say, we have very less role models in the Hockey fraternity.

With a very low state of mind, I have to say, I am a fan of all such players but only of their on-field activities.

However, one thing even this low state of mind knows -> Criticism makes a person more strong in what he wants.

I will pursue my vision of tomorrow, this time with added passion.