India, the Netherlands play out an exciting draw
Vijay Lokapally
— Photo: Akhilesh Kumar Creditable show: Prabhjot Singh, Sandeep Singh and Arjun Halappa celebrate after the encounter with the Netherlands.
CHANDIGARH: Showing glimpses of its potential, India, down 0-2, held the Netherlands 4-4 in the Punjab Gold Cup hockey tournament here on Sunday.
The venue came alive in four explosive minutes as goals happened and frenzy gripped the audience at the Sector 42 Stadium. India and the Netherlands played vintage hockey that repeatedly had the spectators on their feet. The result did not quite justify the run of play that certainly favoured India.
The Netherlands had looked well in control with two early goals until the dazzling strike by Shivendra, who scored in the 29th minute with a piercing drive from the top of the circle. It was the angle that created confusion in the Dutch ranks. It was just the beginning of an Indian renaissance.
Relentless attack
Wouter Jolie, who had defended with assurance, looked lost after Shivendra’s strike and was beaten twice as India launched relentless attacks through Rajpal Singh, Vikram Pillay and Arjun Hallappa.
When Tushar Khandker joined the forays the Dutch had a tough time.
Two minutes after it had scored the first goal, India earned a hit-in outside the circle. Sandeep Singh’s scorching hit was deflected by Prabhjot Singh. The audience had hardly settled when Khandker produced the goal of the match. He chased a through by the hard-working Shivendra and beat the goalkeeper with a deft placement.
The pace set by India rattled the Netherlands, which improved overall in the second session, looking for rapid counter-attacks.
Some clever marking left India short of ideas and much was expected from Shivendra and Prabhjot. The Dutch were not going to concede easy ground this time but India wasted a glorious opportunity when Sandeep messed a penalty stroke in the 44th minute.
Soon the Netherlands hit back with an opportunistic goal in the 45th minute by Timme Hoyng, who slammed a long ball in. Rob Reckers (16th minute) and Laurence Docherty (27th minute) had scored the first two goals for the Netherlands.
As the evening grew cooler, the warmth came in the shape of India’s fourth goal when Rajpal Singh sent the ball in from a tap in and an alert S.V. Sunil left his mark on the gripping exchanges, scoring with a flourish. A hush fell on the stadium when the Netherlands equalised. India and the Netherlands have four points each from two outings now.
Earlier, New Zealand held Germany 2-2. New Zealand took the lead when Lloyd Stephenson scored from a penalty in the fourth minute. It increased the lead in the 43rd minute through Blair Hilton. Germany, however, hit back through two goals by Tobias Lietz .
Monday is a rest day.
TOI-Hyderabad:
Mamata HS, HPS (Begumpet) in final
Mamata High School will clash with Hyderabad Public School (Begumpet) in the final of the 5th Vemparala Purushotham Memorial inter-school hockey tournament at the Gymkhana on Monday. In the semifinals on Sunday, Mamata High School defeated BVB Public School (Ramachandrapuram) 2-0 while Hyderabad Public School (Begumpet) also scored an identical win over St Joseph High School (Ramanthapur).
KNOW HOW
'Education lends sophistication'
FORMER INDIAN HOCKEY GOALKEEPER AND OLYMPIAN,ASHISH BALLAL,ON WHY IT IS IMPORTANT TO STUDY AS WELL AS PLAY SPORTS
I think it's very important for sportspersons to finish their education. Right now, sports and academics are not going hand-in-hand. But that should not be the case. I urge students to play sports in their school years - especially Olympic events. Being an Olympian coupled with the right education opens many doors for you. There are many companies who are just waiting to grab Olympians and ready to place them in good positions. For example, ONGC hires many sportspersons. Even Viren Rasquinha joined ISB to finish his MBA. He was the captain of the Indian hockey team. Yet, he did not neglect his studies. I currently work as commercial manager for Air India. This would not have been possible had I not finished my BCom when I could. I started going pro very early - during my Class 12. I had to forego doing my Bachelor's. I have no regrets for I got to play for India in international events like the Olympics and the World Cup. I got to rub shoulders with many other big stars like Michael Jordan and Steffi Graf during Olympics. It was an incredible feeling. I was really disappointed when I had to give the 2004 Olympics a miss because of injury. But I went back to college and got myself a degree. That has put me in good stead all these years. Education is really important because it guarantees you a job and gives you sophistication, especially when it comes to dealing with people and the media. It also guarantees promotions faster. But I want to stress that education plus sports equals a fantastic career and numerous opportunities. So I think students should seriously look at pursuing Olympic sports and education in right measure. (As told to Darinia Khongwir)
Indian Express:
Weise words: All-conquering German coach hungry for more
UTHRA GANESAN
CHANDIGARH,
GERMAN hockey coach Markus Weise is no stranger to India, but his last memories of the country go back to 2001, when he was still an assistant coach to Bernhard Peters. Since then, he has seen much success — he progressed from being an assistant to the chief coach, led the German women’s team to gold at the Athens Olympics in 2004, repeated the feat with the men’s side in 2008 and won the elite Champions Trophy in 2007.
If that was not enough, he is the only coach to win an Olympic gold with both the men’s and women’s sides, which perhaps makes him an ideal candidate to talk about the difference in guiding the two. “There are a lot of similarities and a lot of things are very different. I know it may sound wrong but I would say that one should not work too long with women if they have to be successful,” he says, adding that there were too many emotions that needed to be handled.
A sexist statement? “Maybe, you can say that. But it’s true. I guess it depends on the kind of players you get. But in general, yes, handling women is far tougher,” he says.
Coming back to the job at hand, Weise is taking it one step at a time. “This tournament will be a new experience for every player, since none of them has ever played in India. In fact, it is a new experience for me too, since we generally start our season with a preparatory camp in March. This is a good opportunity for us to prepare for the 2010 World Cup and also the 2012 Olympics,” he says.
Having a young squad here is also an opportunity for Weise to try out his bench strength. “It raises competition among players, which is a good thing. I want to test my players, see who can push the established guys for spots. Every match is an opportunity,” he adds.
At the same time, though, he repeatedly keeps his team away from the favourites tag. ‘India favourites’ “I THINK India are the favourites, playing at home. That makes a lot of difference. I expect them to be ambitious, to go all out for it, to prove themselves.But I can’t speak of any individual player. Sandeep is very good, but that’s it. I don’t know about the others,” he says.
But surely, sitting pretty on top of the world rankings and owning all of the three most coveted trophies in the sport must be a great feeling? “Not really. For me, every Olympics cycle is a four-year period to build a new squad. And every tournament begins from zero. If we sit back on past achievements or try to play for world rankings, it doesn’t work. One has to play to win every tournament, and that is the only thing that matters at the end of that particular tournament,” he insists.
Perhaps the fact that after winning so much he still is not satisfied gives an insight into his competitive mindset.“Well, not everything. We are not the European champions yet,” he reminds with a laugh.
The Hindu:
Tvm meets Thrissur in final
THALASSERY: Thiruvananthapuram scored a 6-5 win over SAI (Kollam) via the tie-breaker and entered the final of the State senior men’s hockey championship at the Municipal stadium here on Sunday.
In the final to be played on Monday, Thiruvananthapuram will take on Thrissur which too was forced to the distance by host Kannur.
Thrissur won the second semifinal 5-4 via sudden-death after the two teams were level at the end of the regular period and tie-breaker.
Rajeev was the hero for the Thrissur side scoring once each in the tie-breaker and the sudden-death.
In the tie-breaker, besides Rajeev the other goal-scorers for Thrissur were Vinod, Deepak and Sijimon while Jaison, Vijith, Akhilash and C. Binod converted for Kannur.
However, Binod failed to convert for Kannur in the sudden-death.
Earlier, Thiruvananthapuram was in the lead twice through Aneesh (first minute) and Veeramony (47th) before Vineeth Manuel (19th and 65th) helped SAI (Kollam) draw level.
In the tie-breaker, Veeramony, Sarath, Aneesh and Praveen Kumar scored to help Thiruvananthapuram through to the final while only Shamsudeen, Vineeth Manuel and Kiran Kumar could convert for the Kollam outfit. — Special Correspondent
The Sentinel:
Hockey buffs miffed
Chandigarh: Hockey enthusiasts across the country were upset as the state-run Doordarshan failed to telecast the first day's matches of the Punjab Gold Cup featuring India, Olympic champions Germany, European champions Netherlands and New Zealand. Despite assurances by the Doordarshan officials, the channel failed to telecast the first day’s action and the inauguration ceremony here on Saturday. “There is only one outdoor broadcasting (OB) van here and it was engaged in covering some other cultural event. So we could not avail its services. However, we will try to telecast the matches from Sunday,” a senior Doordarshan official said here Sunday. “It is a matter of big shame for us that some cultural event is of more importance for us than our national game. I came home early from my office to catch the live action but was disappointed to find that no channel was telecasting it,” said Ajay Sharma, a hockey enthusiast. Hosts India defeated New Zealand while Holland trounced Germany on the first day of the 10-day tournament. (IANS)
The Arunachal Times:
Hockey great K D Singh 'babu' fondly remembered
Lucknow, Feb 1 : Sports loving city of Lucknow joins the entire nation to remember fondly its own hockey wizard late Keshav Dev Singh-popularily known as K D Singh Babu on his 88th birth anniversary falling tomorrow.
Padamshri K D Singh 'Babu', along with another hockey legend Dhyan Chand, entralled the sports lovers all over the country for his amazing skills with the stick ,the glory he brought to nation and his missionary zeal to promote the game.
Born on Feburary 2,1922 in a small hamlet of adjoining Barabanki district, Babu started showing his talent in hockey at a tender age of 14 when he played his first tournamnet at Dewa in Barabanki.
Two years later, He played his first major tournament for Lucknow Youngmen's Association (LYA) against Manavdar team for the traders cup hockey championship at New Delhi and here he caught the fancy of the greats of the game. An olympian Hussain was pitted against him and was amazed by his natural game and stunning stick-work.
It was only after the match that his coach Mushaquzza Jama disclosed Hussain's identity much to the confidence of the young protege who went on to become hockey great
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