New Delhi: Indian hockey returned to its roots, the Olympics, on a super Sunday in an emotionally charged up atmosphere at the most appropriate venue for a historic moment – the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium. The eight-time former Olympic champions beat France 8-1 to replace the tears of 2008 with joyful smiles of 2012.
Sandeep ‘Singh’ once again turned out to be the ‘King’ with five goals that took the life out of France’s effort that was a distant second by a mile. Sandeep’s goals in the 19th, 26th, 38th, 49th and 51st minutes of the match ensured he finished as the top goal-scorer of the tournament with a whopping 16 goals.
Simon Martin at one stage made it 2-1 in the 24th minute, but it was at best a lucky goal against the run of play.
Before Sandeep’s jaw-dropping goal spree of breathtaking drag-flicks, Birender Lakra opened the scoring in the 17th minute while Sunil made it 5-1 in the 43rd and VR Raghunath 8-1 in the 56th.
The game easily saw the best attendance of the tournament as crowds filled the 16,500-seater stadium to near capacity. The French kept the Indian forwards at bay in the first 10 minutes but couldn’t hold up for long and the floodgates opened soon to knock them back. India led 3-1 at the half-time but the second half saw five more goals being pumped in by the Indian forwards to dash any leftover French hopes.
The match also kept the umpires on their toes as both the teams repeatedly asked for reviews of penalty corners. Both the teams earned seven penalty corners, but while India converted six of those, France couldn’t score on any.
India’s eight goals in the final took their goal tally to a mindboggling 44 in six matches, including the final. And with 16 goals to his name, Sandeep bagged the highest goal-scorer award while Sardar Singh was adjudged the Player of the Tournament.
The No. 10-ranked Indian team began their unbeaten run by overwhelming Singapore 15-1. The big wins in the league stage 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.
However, the Indian women’s team couldn’t repeat the feat of their male counterparts as they lost the Olympic berth to South Africa, who won 1-3 in the final on Saturday. The women have never qualified for the Olympics, with their only participation in the 1980 Games coming through invitation.
The Indian men’s hockey had missed out on an Olympic berth in 2008 when they failed to make it through the qualifying tournament in Chile. Before that they had never missed the Olympics, bagging 11 medals in all, including eight golds and an unbeaten run from 1928 to 1956.
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