Former India captain and selector MM Somaya on Sunday termed the Indian Men’s hockey team’s victory over Great Britain in the quarterfinals in the Paris Olympics as “one of the most resilient” and “tactically well played” performance in recent times.
Despite being a man down for three of the four quarters of the match, the Indian team defended stoutly and absorbed tremendous pressure to end the match 1-1 and then emerged 4-2 winners in the shootout to seal a place in the semifinals.
This is the first time that India have reached the semifinals in two successive Olympics since the 1972 Olympics in Munich.
Somaya, who was a member of the team that won India’s eighth gold medal in men’s hockey in the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, hailed the players for their performance in the Paris Olympics and said they have raised hopes of going through all the way. India had ended a four-decade-long medal drought by winning the bronze medal in the Tokyo Olympics.
“It was one of the most resilient and the most, I think, tactically very well-played (game) given the circumstances that the team found itself in. So, I think a very resilient and very strong tactical game to pull it off in the quarterfinal at the Olympics. So the game was not a, you know, pool game or a, you know, some smaller tournament quarterfinal. To do something like this at the Olympics is amazing. It is definitely one of the most resilient performances by an Indian team,” said Somaya, who was the captain of the Indian hockey team at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul.
For years, lack of resilience and tactical acumen was considered as the reasons for the Indian men’s team’s failure to progress through key knockout matches in mega events — conceding last-minute goals like at the 1984 Los Angeles and 2000 Sydney Olympic games that thwarted them from progressing to the last-four stage.
On Sunday, resilient play and a strong tactical game saved the day as Harmanpreet Singh’s team battled hard despite being reduced to 10 players at the start of the second quarter after Amit Rohidas was shown a red card.
A keen observer of Indian hockey since his playing days, Somaya, who is a member of the senior men’s selection committee of Hockey India, has seen the team grow in the last decade and said by reaching the semifinals in two successive Olympics, the team has lifted the stature of India in hockey.
“There has been an amazing change. They have really lifted the stature of India in hockey. They have put us (in the top four). They have retained that stature we used to have earlier. May not be finishing as first, second, or third very often, but the quality of hockey they have played over the last ten years has been very, very encouraging and they have again put Indian hockey on the World map. So very happy with the style of playing,” said Somaya.
The 65-year-old Somaya, who was born in Madikeri, Karnataka but now settled in Mumbai for the last many decades, agreed that the team’s performance was not perfect as they made many errors in midfield easily giving away the ball on many occasions, but said that could be because the players could not go up on attack too much as they were a man down.
Somaya felt that the mistakes could be because the players were very tired while covering the length and breadth of the field as they had one person less.
Asked what areas should the team focus on for the semifinal where they will meet the winner of the match between World Champion Germany and Argentina, Somaya the players’ main concern would be to recover from Sudnay’s exertions and get fully fit for the semifinal.
Another area of concern will be the absence of Amit Rohidas for the next match because of the red card as that will reduce the squad to 15 players whereas the opponents will have their full quota of 16.
“Recovering physically, mentally, emotionally is going to be difficult as the day after is the next match. So, you have to first recover physically, mentally, emotionally. These sorts of games drain you completely. So it has drained them. So, the first thing is they have to recover.
And they, again, may at a handicap. If Amit Rohidas doesn’t get a reprieve from the disciplinary committee, then he may have to (miss the semifinal). We may have to play one player short from the 16. And in today’s rules of rolling substitution, where they make 40, 50 changes, you know, then your options are limited as compared to the opposition.
“So, that’s a handicap. So all these things they need to focus on. One is to recover from the game. The second is to plan well. If it is going to be Germany or Argentina, both are tough teams. So planning to play with one player shot is also something that they would have to look at,” Somaya signed off.
