New Delhi: Even before India’s big boys had set off in search of an Olympic return, coach Michael Nobbs’ brain waves had started mapping his opponents. Singapore proved a far cry, Italy a rookie, Canada talented and Poland hostile. But in France’s case, Nobbs’ words have proved prophetic.
“They are the dark horses,” he had said. And here they are – the Frenchmen – standing in India’s path of redemption.
India started as overwhelming favourites and their five-match unbeaten run testifies to that. But to say that the dream run has evaporated all the jitters will be a mistake. The winner-takes-all format of the Olympic qualifiers boils down to one match. Nothing but what transpires in the final will be remembered. Cruel on the players, yes, but such is the nature of sport. And all the more so in such a scenario, where only the winner gets to play at the Olympics.
For France, a win will bring unprecedented success. For Indian hockey, it will be a moment soaked in emotion, one that will help wipe away the tears of 2008 when the eight-time Olympic gold medalists couldn’t make it to the Games.
The men had been the big daddies of hockey until 1980, bagging 11 Olympic medals in all, including eight golds and an unbeaten run from 1928 to 1956. But the descent since 1980 stooped as low as missing the 2008 Beijing Olympics, when India failed to qualify. It was one match – against Great Britain – that proved fatal in the 2008 qualifiers, and it's down to the final again in 2012, this time against France.
It should be relatively easier this time for the 10th-ranked Indians facing the 18th-ranked France, more so after having beaten them with a comfortable 6-2 margin in the league phase. The best chance France may have is if they avoid conceding penalty corners to keep the tournament’s top-scorer Sandeep Singh at bay.
Sandeep has been in scintillating form, with his drag-flicks peppering the opponents' goal 11 times. France will also have to watch out for SV Sunil and Shivendra Singh. Sunil has tormented the opponents with his blazing sprints on the right flank, teaming up with Shivendra to form an unstoppable pair. While Shivendra has scored six goals so far, Sunil has sounded the board on five occasions.
India began their unbeaten spell by overwhelming Singapore 15-1. The big wins didn't stop there and were repeated against Italy (8-1) and France (6-2) until the first real test against Canada, which India passed 3-1. Their last league game against Poland was another closely fought match, until the hosts scored two goals in the last five minutes to win 4-2.
Nobbs minced no words while commenting on a team that is evidently playing a couple of notches higher than before the Aussie took over. "It is hard to be your best every time you are in the field and we want to be at the top of every team we play, both physically and psychologically. We want to be the best team in the world," he told reporters after the match against Poland.
France managed to scrape through to the final on the last day of the league stage when both Poland and France were locked at nine points each. The French managed to hold Canadians 1-1 to take their points tally to 10 while Poland failed to add to theirs, going down to India 2-4.
But as has been said before, it’s now effectively a one-match tournament. It will be a catastrophe if India were to go through another four-year hiatus. India hockey wants to liberate itself from the ignominy of 2008 and the only way of doing that is an Olympic comeback. The boys have to do it.
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