India's Olympic dream crushed, coach resigns

OLYMPIC DREAM: Britain's Simon Mantell celebrates a goal as India's Prabodh Tirkey looks on.

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Santiago: Chief Hockey Coach Joaquim Carvalho has blamed India's below-par performance and some serious blunders for their 0-2 defeat in the World Hockey Olympic qualifying final at the hands of Great Britain, who also did not put up an extra ordinary performance.

Following the defeat, India failed to qualify for the Olympic Games for the first time in 80 years since their debut in 1928. "We played to just 50 per cent of potential today. Our defence made a silly mistake in the very first minute that led to a goal and another error on the flanks resulted in a second goal against us. We could not recover from these setbacks," Carvalho said after the match.

Joaquim Carvalho has decided to step down along with his support staff following India's failure to qualify for the 2008 Beijing Olympics for the first time in 80 years.

Talking to PTI here soon after India's 0-2 loss to Great Britain in the final of the Qualifying Tournament last night, Carvalho said his failure to 'deliver result' prompted him to resign.

"When I took over 11 months ago, I had said I would resign if I cannot deliver results. So, now, I am keeping my word. Yes, I am as disappointed and hurt as any other Indian hockey fan. Having said that, failure to qualify for the Olympics is not the end of the road for Indian hockey. We now have to start from scratch and renew our attempt to become one of the top teams in the World," he said.

Carvalho said he was still to speak to Indian Hockey Federation president KPS Gill about his resignation, but asserted that his decision was final.

When asked whether he would re-consider his decision if asked by the IHF, Carvalho said, "I don't know. I will have to give everything a lot of thought. There are a few issues too that the IHF will first have to straighten out.