Indian Sports and Entertainment Industry

Rahul M · Post by **Rahul M** » 30 Jun 2018 20:38

even against belgium sreejesh saved the day, he is an incredible goalie !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuFipDrwKis

SBajwa · Post by **SBajwa** » 30 Jun 2018 20:45

3 quarters gone still 0-0. India is playing too defensive

SBajwa · Post by **SBajwa** » 30 Jun 2018 20:48

Mandeep scores!! 1-0 now!! 1st penalty corner. I cannot believe that Netherlands that invented Drag Flick do not have a drag flicker anymore!

SBajwa · Post by **SBajwa** » 30 Jun 2018 20:57

1-1 now!! 5 minutes left

nash · Post by **nash** » 30 Jun 2018 21:06

I think Indian team has forgot how to pass

SBajwa · Post by **SBajwa** » 30 Jun 2018 21:08

Indian team into finals!

SBajwa · Post by **SBajwa** » 30 Jun 2018 21:09

nash wrote:I think Indian team has forgot how to pass

It was very weird game! Players looked tired and way too many wrong passes. Defense was very good though! 3 penalty corners in last 2.5 minutes all stopped.

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 30 Jun 2018 21:10

Congrats to the Indian hockey team for repeating the achievement!

nash · Post by **nash** » 30 Jun 2018 21:10

If they play like this against australia then they will definitely lose, no point of asking why we can not beat them

SBajwa · Post by **SBajwa** » 30 Jun 2018 21:12

At least silver among the top teams! India can defeat Australia who got defeated by Argentina whom we defeated.
I think the top 5 teams here can beat any other team.

SBajwa · Post by **SBajwa** » 30 Jun 2018 21:14

All 3 matches (5-6), (3-4), (1-2) will be played tomorrow! finals will be last.

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 30 Jun 2018 21:15

Argentina are too heavily dependent on the magical Gonzalo Peillat now, one of the world's best drag flickers. In fact he scored all the goals in their 3-2 win against Australia.

Supratik · Post by **Supratik** » 30 Jun 2018 21:16

I disagree. I think the defence is playing well under pressure. Could reduce the mistakes. What is Sardar Singh doing? He seems to have a small role. It is the young forward line which is not functional. The Ned goalie saved a lot of shots. Should have scored a few of them. India should have won this match if the forwards could convert.

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 30 Jun 2018 21:18

Clearly we are able to reliably stand up to and beat all of the top 5 now, except Australia. As recently as 2-3 years ago, a match against Aus/Ned/Ger was 'we'd be lucky to draw, really lucky to win' . Now draw isn't hard to expect and we we can attempt wins. Australia remains the one country we never seem to be able to easy find a measure of in big events. Even Argentina lost to us in the Olympics on their way to gold - their only loss there.

SBajwa · Post by **SBajwa** » 30 Jun 2018 21:24

Supratik wrote:I disagree. I think the defence is playing well under pressure. Could reduce the mistakes. What is Sardar Singh doing? He seems to have a small role. It is the young forward line which is not functional. The Ned goalie saved a lot of shots. Should have scored a few of them. India should have won this match if the forwards could convert.

New coach Harendra Singh promised podium finish which he achieved. I think he is trying the mixture of young and old players to ensure Gold in upcoming Asian games in August. Where South Korea, Malaysia and Pakistan are our real opponents.

nash · Post by **nash** » 30 Jun 2018 21:27

In this whole tournament, we miss a good drag flicker, Harmanpreet is not up to the mark and when we lose Ramandeep our forwards not able to built any move, and on top of it Mandeep lost too many goal scoring opportunity, he literally needs a halwa to convert.These are the reasons why we are not able to score much and need to rely on defence and Srijesh to sail through.

SBajwa · Post by **SBajwa** » 30 Jun 2018 21:29

nash wrote:In this whole tournament, we miss a good drag flicker, Harmanpreet is not up to the mark and when we lose Ramandeep our forwards not able to built any move, and on top of it Mandeep lost too many goal scoring opportunity, he literally needs a halwa to convert.These are the reasons why we are not able to score much and need to rely on defence and Srijesh to sail through.

Agreed!! I was astonished to see a young new full back Jarmanpreet taking a shot at Netherlands goal. Defence normally do not take shots at goal they pass it to the forwards.

Supratik · Post by **Supratik** » 30 Jun 2018 21:33

Why is Varun Kumar not taking PCs? Over reliance on Harmanpreet. Simranjeet, Mandeep are the weakest link in this team.

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 30 Jun 2018 21:46

Well, both Mandeep and Harmanpreet have 3 goals each. About the same number as the drag flickers in the other teams. Only Peillat is far ahead with 6 goals, half of them in the last match against Aus.

And where is Rupinder Pal Singh ? To be fair, the turf at Breda seemed poor. Watch the Aus-Ned game - they had trouble pushing the ball to the trapper for PCs.

SBajwa · Post by **SBajwa** » 30 Jun 2018 21:53

Rupinder Pal is being rested like Sardar and Shreejas were rested earlier for a long time.
Here is the team that played today.

http://www.fih.ch/events/champions-trop ... eamId=4330

Here are the 47 probables for men's team

http://hockeyindia.org/category/team?ty ... -Probables

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 30 Jun 2018 22:00

Thanks. We have at least two more drag flickers not playing here - Rupinder and Raghunath.

Sreejesh on the other hand, remains one of the best goalies in the world. The first Belgian PC that he stopped needed incredible reflexes. Starts at 0.40 here:

Ankit Desai · Post by **Ankit Desai** » 30 Jun 2018 22:03

Suraj wrote:Clearly we are able to reliably stand up to and beat all of the top 5 now, except Australia. As recently as 2-3 years ago, a match against Aus/Ned/Ger was 'we'd be lucky to draw, really lucky to win' . Now draw isn't hard to expect and we we can attempt wins. Australia remains the one country we never seem to be able to easy find a measure of in big events. Even Argentina lost to us in the Olympics on their way to gold - their only loss there.

It is too early. This is first tournament since Harendra Singh took over. Other teams will figure out his strategy and plan in coming tournaments. Let's see how the team will play in World Cup.

Women's team also started well at CWG and falter at the end.

As far defenders are playing up, that been the trend since Terry Walsh. Even full back like Birendra Lakra seen playing in opposition D. Total hockey is the buzz word.

-Ankit

Supratik · Post by **Supratik** » 30 Jun 2018 22:07

Defence is solid. Maybe RP Singh will add value. Forward needs the likes of Akashdeep, Ramandeep for some experience. There was nothing wrong in their game. The problem was Oltman strategy. Harinder strategy is very different - total hockey, thick defence and quick counter attacks. Not for those without speed and stamina.

Supratik · Post by **Supratik** » 30 Jun 2018 22:12

Also special mention of Sreejesh - India's best goal keeper for a long time.

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 30 Jun 2018 22:56

Ankit, since you seem familiar with the game, can you tell us about why we seem to find it so much harder to play Australia than any other top team ? What's it about their playing style that we can't surmount ?

By the way, I'm referring to how we've performed against the top 6 in the last two years, not just in this tournament. We've beaten everyone else in major event, e.g. Bel and Ned in Hockey World League Finals, Arg in Olympics, Britain and Germany elsewhere. Just not Australia.

SBajwa · Post by **SBajwa** » 01 Jul 2018 00:05

Check hockey schedule for rest of year! It is good to see all Jr. , Senior and Youth hockey team playing.

Jun 23 - Jul 01 Rabobank Men's Hockey Champions Trophy Breda 2018 Breda (NED) View
Jun 29 - Jul 06 India vs Bangladesh Matches (Men) Bengaluru
Jul 07 - Jul 19 India vs South Korea Matches (Men) Bengaluru
Jul 14 - Jul 22 6 Nations Invitational Tournament (Jr Men) Antwerp, Belgium
Jul 14 - Jul 22 6 Nations Invitational Tournament (Jr Women) Antwerp, Belgium
Jul 17 - Jul 23 India vs New Zealand Matches (Men) Bengaluru
Jul 21 - Aug 05 Hockey Women’s World Cup London 2018 London, England
Aug 18 - Sep 02 18th Asian Games (Men) Jakarta, Indonesia
Aug 18 - Sep 02 18th Asian Games (Women) Jakarta, Indonesia
Oct 06 - Oct 13 8th Sultan of Johor Cup (Jr. Men) Johor Bahru, Malaysia
Oct 06 - Oct 18 3rd Youth Olympic Games Buenos Aires 2018 Buenos Aires, Argentina
Oct 18 - Oct 28 Hero Asian Champions Trophy 2018 (Men) Muscat, Oman
Nov 28 - Dec 16 Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup Bhubaneswar 2018 Bhubaneswar, India

Ankit Desai · Post by **Ankit Desai** » 01 Jul 2018 01:21

Suraj wrote:By the way, I'm referring to how we've performed against the top 6 in the last two years, not just in this tournament. We've beaten everyone else in major event, e.g. Bel and Ned in Hockey World League Finals, Arg in Olympics, Britain and Germany elsewhere. Just not Australia.

Easy answer first, I was not criticizing your observation but caution all before we go over board with Harendra Singh. Quoted you because I read your comment last among them. Our performance against top four teams are not consistent either. Let's not just focus on major tournaments but check out progress over all. I attribute that to frequent coach changes though. For example after beating Belgium in World series final they defeated us few times in NZ tri series and draw out in on going tournament. Or loosing to Britain at CWG bronze medal match which matter more than regular match and there is no guarantee that we can repeat same performance against Dutch again (I know there is not guarantee of anything in sport but still).

I would also keep Germany out of it. They even stopped Ric Charlesworth's Australia in Olympic. Personally I do not remember when did we defeated Germany last.

Suraj wrote:Ankit, since you seem familiar with the game, can you tell us about why we seem to find it so much harder to play Australia than any other top team ? What's it about their playing style that we can't surmount ?

Well, I am not technical guy when it comes to hockey but it became #1 sport to me and started taking interest in other Olympic sports after 1996 cricket world cup fiasco. So just analysis. As far Australia goes, they adopted what India had & forgot and mixed with Australian aggression.

At the end of Dhanraj Pillay's era and when Ric Charlesworth took over Australian men's hockey around that time India was in bad shape. Dominance of Australian hockey made deep impact on player's psyche which I think they still having it. Check out articles came out during 2004 to 2012. That perception started changing only after Premier Hockey league and Terry Walsh took over. You might have read my all gaga comment on Walsh in past. During his time I think we defeated Australia twice in Australia in test series.

The philosophy with Australian coaches came to India was to score minimum four goals in every match. One goal is to cover your own mistake, second goal is to cover refree's mistake, third goal is to cover oppistion's brilliance and fourth is winning goal. This is just one philosophy and give us glimpse how whole Australian team prepare and play.

Like I said above, only Germany was the one which can stop them when they were at their peak.

Australian had down time too before current coach Colin Batch took over. But they look like settling down.

-Ankit

SBajwa · Post by **SBajwa** » 01 Jul 2018 18:30

India Australia finals in 1 hour. Bakis lost to Belgium!

SBajwa · Post by **SBajwa** » 01 Jul 2018 19:31

You can watch it live here! (USA, Canada)

https://live.bleacherreport.com/field-h ... ndia/45285

SBajwa · Post by **SBajwa** » 01 Jul 2018 19:45

more youngsters today! 4 players that did not played yesterday

SBajwa · Post by **SBajwa** » 01 Jul 2018 19:50

Varun kumar taking shots at penalty corners already 2 missed. Varun kumar is not a drag flicker his flick is way way too slow. only 16% penalty corner conversion rate in this tournament (all teams).

SBajwa · Post by **SBajwa** » 01 Jul 2018 19:57

first quarter over 0-0

nash · Post by **nash** » 01 Jul 2018 20:00

Q1 was good , need to maintain the same tempo...

SBajwa · Post by **SBajwa** » 01 Jul 2018 20:10

australia converts a penalty corner. 2 out of 20 is their conversion rate.

SBajwa · Post by **SBajwa** » 01 Jul 2018 20:18

half time 1-0 Australia

SBajwa · Post by **SBajwa** » 01 Jul 2018 20:29

Dilpreet singh (17 years old) is really good

SBajwa · Post by **SBajwa** » 01 Jul 2018 20:32

3rd penalty corner missed by india these new injector, stopper (amit rohidas) and flicker (Varun) are bad. Good thing that Harmanpreet is back

SBajwa · Post by **SBajwa** » 01 Jul 2018 20:44

India got a goal Vivek (also 17 years old from Jr. Team) got the ball in! 1-1

nash · Post by **nash** » 01 Jul 2018 20:51

We need some quality forward, atleast I am frustrated with Mandeep

SBajwa · Post by **SBajwa** » 01 Jul 2018 21:01

At least they are passing! I remember Dhanraj pillay use to keep the ball all the way to goal never passing to another player.