Tokyo Olympics 2020, Form Guide: Tracking Indian men’s hockey team over last two years-Sports News , Firstpost

Editor’s Note:  For five years now, Indian athletes have been dreaming to make up for the disappointment of a two-medal haul in Rio. The span has been extraordinary, with COVID-19 having thrown their preparations – and the Olympics itself – off gear. However, in true Olympic spirit, the country’s finest sportspersons have battled form and uncertainty to put their best foot forward in what promises to be a Games like none other. In our latest series, we track the last two years’ performances of our athletes to give you a ready guide to their form leading into the biggest sporting spectacle of the world.

High at Olympic test event

Missing senior players like captain Manpreet Singh, goalkeeper PR Sreejesh and Surender Kumar, the Indian men’s team headed to Japan to play in the Olympic Test Event in August 2019. The team, led by Harmanpreet Singh, started their campaign with a dominant 6-0 win over Malaysia, but were handed a 1-2 defeat by New Zealand in the next game. They bounced back with a 6-3 rout of hosts Japan to make it to the final, where they again met New Zealand. This time around, India exacted revenge for the defeat in the round-robin stage by beating New Zealand 5-0 to win the Olympic Test Event.

Victorious Belgium tour

In September 2019, India headed to Antwerp where they were to play five matches against World No 2 Belgium and World No 8 Spain. They won all five of their matches, beating Belgium 2-0, 2-1 and 5-1 and also brushed aside Spain with 6-1 and 5-1 margins of victory.

Sealing Tokyo 2020 spot

The men’s team could have sealed their qualification for Tokyo 2020 at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta. But that opportunity slipped out of their hands after they could manage only a bronze medal. Another window for them to book their ticket for the Tokyo Olympics came when they were drawn against World No 22 Russia in a two-legged Olympic qualifier in Bhubaneswar’s Kalinga Stadium.

The World No 5 team were clinical in the qualifiers, beating Russia 4-2 in the first leg. In the second leg, they had a scare early on as Alexey Sobolevskiy scored with just 25 seconds on the clock. The goal was a reminder to India that they could not afford to think of the Olympic quota as a foregone conclusion on the back of their two-goal victory margin from the first leg. It was only in the second quarter that a Lalit Upadhyay goal helped them level the match and restore some semblance of normalcy in the proceedings. Indians soon pumped in six more goals into the Russian net, sealing their spot at the Olympics with a commanding 7-1 win.

Upsets over Netherlands

Participating in the FIH Pro League for the first time, World No 5 India went up against World No 3 Netherlands in a double-header at the Kalinga Stadium in January 2020. In the first game, the Indian team had a blistering start, scoring the first goal inside a minute after Gurjant Singh robbed the ball, passed it to Mandeep Singh and went on to score for India’s fastest ever goal. There were moments of dazzling wizardry from the Indians in the match, including Rupinder Pal Singh contribution of two goals from penalty corners. Mandeep also scored a vital goal in the contest, turning and slotting it into the goal while surrounded by three Dutch players. Lalit Upadhyay rounded off the tally with an easy tap-in.

In the second game between the two sides, played the next day itself, India won after a tense penalty shootout. The Dutch were 3-1 ahead at one stage, but India fought back to level the game 3-3 to take the game into a shootout. Lalit Upadhyay scored India’s first on the day, inside a minute of the Dutch taking a 1-0 lead. India’s joy was short-lived, however, as the Netherlands took a 3-1 lead before the second quarter had ended. Things went from bad to worse for India as captain Manpreet Singh was shown a green card, resulting in India playing 10 minutes of the third quarter with just 10 men. India managed to hold on to the two-goal deficit in the face of repeated Dutch attacks until Manpreet got back on the field in the fourth quarter. With their numerical disadvantage wiped out, India mounted a comeback with two goals, both coming off penalty corners. In the first, Mandeep Singh scored off a rebound, while Rupinder Pal Singh shot his penalty corner strike straight down the middle to level the game and take it into a shootout.

Once the shootout began, India chose the grizzled PR Sreejesh to stand in goal instead of his young understudy Krishan Pathak, who was in goal for the two games. Sreejesh’s steady presence under the bar ensured the Dutch couldn’t score off their first three attempts. Vivek Prasad, Gurjant Singh, and Akashdeep Singh scored on the other end to win India the contest.

Standing tall against Belgium and Australia

In February 2020 — right on the back of the twin upsets over the Netherlands — India took on Belgium and Australia in two double-headers at Bhubaneswar.  

The Belgian team was ranked No 1 in the world, were on top of the Pro League standings, and were the reigning world champions. But Team India, paying no heed to reputation, edged past the Europeans with a 2-1 margin. In fact, India were up just 90 seconds into the game with Mandeep Singh turning in the ball after some deft stickwork from Vivek Prasad and Dilpreet Singh. The game saw India’s keeper Krishan Pathak — the young understudy of PR Sreejesh — pull off some incredible saves, particularly in the first quarter. Both keepers were at the top of their game to restrict Belgium, who had 18 shots (to India’s three), 27 circle penetrations (India had 14), and had eight penalty corners with a proven goal-poacher like Tom Boon in their ranks. The Belgians eventually scored through Gauthier Boccard, but Ramandeep Singh’s opportunistic winner 13 minutes later sealed the deal for the Indians.

In the next day’s game, it was Belgium that came to the field all guns blazing. They took the lead with a penalty corner in the third minute itself. In those three minutes, Sreejesh had already pulled off a double-save, but Alexander Hendrickx’s PC flashed past him. Some fine stickwork from Surender Kumar and Vivek Prasad’s goal then levelled the scores, but not for long as Nicolas De Kerpel gave Belgium the lead two minutes later. The Indians, still buzzing from their victory over the world champions a day earlier, were in no mood to wave the white flag. Less than 30 seconds after De Kerpel’s goal, Amit Rohidas, who had made vital saves as a first runner in the first Belgium game, scored after a wild scramble from a botched Indian penalty corner attempt.

The free-flowing game’s decisive goal however came in the second quarter itself, when Harmanpreet Singh’s stray pass in his own half was picked up by the Belgians. Maxime Plennevaux pushed the ball into the goal to hand India a 3-2 defeat.

A few later, India met Australia at the same venue for another double-header. Australia went into half-time with a two-goal advantage, thanks to goals from Dylan Wotherspoon and Tom Wickham. Staring down the barrel, India pulled one goal back with Rajkumar Pal pushing the ball into the goal with the reverse-stick. It took just five minutes before Lachlan Sharp restored Australia’s two-goal advantage with an opportunistic goal while Jacob Anderson made it 4-1 a minute later. At the start of the fourth quarter, overhauling a three-goal deficit against Australia would have appeared to be a seemingly insurmountable task. But Graham Reid’s men showed just why the top teams of the world view India so cautiously. Rajkumar Pal scored his second goal at the start of Q4 while Rupinderpal Singh drove home a penalty corner with nine minutes left on the clock to set up an intense race to the finish with just one goal separating the two teams. Despite multiple chances, it just wasn’t to be.

The second game of the double-header a day later turned out to be equally enthralling. After a goalless Q1, Trent Mitton handed the visitors the lead. Before Australia could capitalise, India hit them with two goals, both coming off penalty corners, inside four minutes. The first, scored by Rupinderpal Singh went straight between the Aussie keeper’s legs while Harmanpreet Singh’s PC flew into the left corner. Until that point, Australia had been wasteful with their PCs, converting none of their six chances. Australia had two goals disallowed on the night after referrals, and saw a penalty stroke thumped into the bar. Their wretched luck turned at the start of the fourth quarter when Aran Zalewski scored to push the game into a shootout. The shootout saw its own share of drama, after India keeper PR Sreejesh was twice pulled up for fouling the attacker—Daniel Beale first and Tim Brand on the second attempt. Both occasions saw Australia being awarded a stroke. Sreejesh guessed right on each occasion, and got lucky to see one of them — the stroke by Daniel Beale fly wide. The Indian keeper then saved another effort by Nathan Ephraums and hassled Jake Harvie enough that the Aussie could not get his shot off the mandatory eight seconds. The shootout win gave India a bonus point.

New highs

As uncertainty around the Tokyo Olympics was gathering steam, the men’s team was resolutely growing in stature. Just weeks before the Olympics were postponed by a year, the men’s team climbed to the fourth spot in the rankings in March 2020, their highest position since the FIH world rankings were introduced in 2003.

The rise of the men’s team was attributable to their performances in the first three rounds of the FIH Hockey Pro League.

Just ahead of them in the rankings were world champions Belgium, Australia (2nd) and the Netherlands (3rd).

Fight against COVID-19

At least six players from the men’s team tested positive for COVID-19 in August 2020. This included skipper Manpreet Singh, Surender Kumar, Jaskaran Singh, Varun Kumar, Krishan Pathak and Mandeep Singh.

Coach Graham Reid said in a webinar organised by Hockey India in September that all the six players had shrug off the disease, and re-joined training.

Undefeated tour of Europe

The Indian men’s team put behind a year affected by COVID-19 with a barnstorming tour of Europe in February-March. They played Germany and Great Britain twice each, and returned home without being defeated.

They started on a high, routing Germany 6-1 with Vivek Prasad scoring a brace and Nilakanta Sharma, Lalit Upadhyay, Akashdeep Singh and Harmanpreet Singh all chipping in with a goal apiece.

Their next game against Germany ended in a 1-1 draw, with Martin Haner’s goal cancelling out Jarmanpreet Singh’s strike early on.

They were also held to a 1-1 draw by Great Britain a few days later at Antwerp, but ended the tour with a 3-2 victory over Great Britain, a game in which they scored as early as the first minute and as late as the last minute.

High-flying Argentina tour

In April 2021, India played reigning Olympic champions Argentina six times in a span of nine days. Two of these games were for the FIH Pro League, while the remaining four matches were practice games with an eye on the deferred Tokyo Olympics.

Many of these games were high-scoring affairs with India setting the tone for the series with a 4-3 victory. The next day, India were held to a 4-4 draw in a high-tempo affair at Buenos Aires. 

When they met in the first clash of the Pro League double-header, India appeared destined to lose 2-1 when — with just 25 seconds on the clock — skipper Manpreet Singh drove into the Argentinian circle with a hazy run that hoodwinked at least four defenders and earned India a last-gasp penalty corner. Harmanpreet Singh’s PC was blocked but the ricochet fell kindly to him, and he converted, setting up a shootout. India were in trouble in the shootout, with Harmanpreet missing his shot while Lucas Martinez needing three shots to put the ball into goal past Sreejesh. The Indian keeper forced Martin Ferreiro and Ignacio Ortiz to shoot wide and blocked Lucas Vila’s shot despite falling after losing his balance to hand India the bonus point.

A day later, in the second match of the Pro League against Argentina, India routed the hosts 3-0, with goals from Harmanpreet Singh and Lalit Upadhyay. But the highlight of the game was Mandeep Singh’s goal — India’s third — where he tumbled in front of goal, but composed himself to tap in the cross.

India lost their only game of the Argentina tour — by a 1-0 scoreline — the next day, but bounced back the day after with a 4-2 rout to end their visit to South America on a high.

Manpreet named skipper for Tokyo

India initially named 11 debutants in their 16-member squad for the Tokyo Olympics, which will be skippered by Manpreet Singh. PR Sreejesh was named as the sole keeper in the squad with Krishan Pathak being named among the standbys.

But when IOC allowed two “alternate” members to be added to squads, India coach Reid chose to go with defender Varun Kumar and midfielder Simranjeet Singh. (Despite the additions, only 16 players will be able to play in a match and the teams will have to submit their list a day before their games.)

India are grouped in Pool A along with reigning Olympic Champions Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, Spain and hosts Japan.