New Delhi: Conceding a goal within five minutes into the match played a huge role in India's defeat in all important London Olympic qualification final against South Africa, coach CR Kumar said. India were down by one goal as early as in the fourth minute of the game, and it proved costly as the home team played catch-up hockey from there to eventually lose the title clash 1-3. "We conceded...
11:53 PM, Feb 25, 2012
New Delhi: Former captain Rajpal Singh, who was overlooked for the ongoing men's hockey Olympic qualifiers, feels India have let in some soft goals but should comfortably win Sunday's final against France. The 28-year-old is confident that India, eight-time Olympic champions, will qualify for London after missing the Games for the first time in 80 years at the 2008 Beijing edition. "There is no doubt in my mind that we...
11:32 PM, Feb 25, 2012
New Delhi: Indian women hockey team's Olympic dream came crashing down on Saturday as they lost the final 3-1 to a formidable South African (SA) team that will now advance to the London Olympics to be played later this year. India always appeared second best in a match dominated by South Africa, which reflected in the two penalty corners (PC) they earned as opposed to five by the visitors. Shelley...
09:54 PM, Feb 25, 2012
New Delhi: Italy narrowly edged out Ukraine 2-1 to finish third in the women's hockey Olympic qualifier at the Major Dhyan Chand Stadium here on Saturday. Italy have performed admirably in the tournament. They were one goal away from qualifying for the final, losing to India 0-1 courtesy a late goal. Ukraine stunned India on the opening day with a draw (1-1) and then beat Canada (5-2) to earn a...
09:24 PM, Feb 25, 2012
New Delhi: Canada beat Poland 3-0 to grab fifth position leaving their opponents without a single win in the women's hockey Olympic qualifier at the Major Dhyan Chand Stadium here on Saturday. Poland, the lowest-ranked team in the competition, finished the round-robin with five straight losses, while Canada, originally ranked fourth, struggled and could only collect points from a draw against Italy on the opening day and a win against...
06:54 PM, Feb 25, 2012
New Delhi: In a bid to ensure good turnout at the men's final of the London Olympics hockey Qualifiers here, Hockey India is offering discounted tickets to students, players of various academies and government employees. "Hockey India is pleased to announce special discounted Entry Tickets for students from schools and colleges, players of various Hockey Academies and employees of State/Central Government for Sunday 26th February 2012 at the ongoing 'Hero...
03:42 PM, Feb 25, 2012
New Delhi: The lift that Indian hockey needs may arrive this weekend in the form of both the men and women teams qualifying for the Olympics. But when the summit is in sight, the last climb is the hardest. That's where India are going to be tested, and tested hard. A week ago when it all began, the men started as favourites and the women second best. With two days...
11:38 AM, Feb 25, 2012
New Delhi: India coach Michael Nobbs said he wants his team to be the "best in the world in the time to come." Nobbs said his team wants to dominate against all teams each and everytime they take the field. "It is hard to be your best everytime you are in the field and we want to be at the top of every team we play both physically and psychologically....
11:10 PM, Feb 24, 2012
New Delhi: Unbeaten India dashed Poland's hopes of reaching the final of the Olympic qualifiers with their fifth straight victory to set up a summit clash with France. The hosts beat the Poles 4-2 in their final league encounter. The match that was played at a breathtaking pace saw end-to-end stuff as both the teams went for a kill. However, Poland needed just a draw to leave France behind on...
09:29 PM, Feb 24, 2012
New Delhi: Indian eves coach C R Kumar said he was satisfied with the effort and vowed that his team will go full throttle against the South Africans in the final of the Olympic qualifiers on Saturday. "We made many penetrations in the first half but unfortunately we couldn't score. Italy knew they just needed a draw and they played accordingly. They seldom attacked our goal. So we got very...
09:21 PM, Feb 24, 2012
Jagbir Singh analyses India's 1-0 win over Italy in the Olympic qualifiers, which enabled them to enter the finals. ...
08:40 PM, Feb 24, 2012
New Delhi: New Delhi: Indian women beat Italy 1-0 in a must-win encounter of the Olympic qualifying tournament for hockey on Friday here to reach the final against South Africa that will be played on Saturday. Ritu Rani's final tap in a goal-mouth melee off a penalty corner in the 55th minute earned India victory against an Italian team that was evidently playing for a draw. The Italians, who needed...
07:38 PM, Feb 24, 2012
New Delhi: Canada's dreams of playing in the London Games came to a screeching halt on Friday when France held them to a 1-1 draw in their must-win last round-robin match of the men's hockey Olympic Qualification tournament here. Needing an outright win to stay in the hunt for a place in Sunday's final, the 14th ranked Canadians failed to hold on to their 1-0 half-time lead as lower-ranked France...
07:13 PM, Feb 24, 2012
New Delhi: South Africa continued their unbeaten run with a dominating 4-1 victory over Canada in their last round-robin match to seal their place in the finals of the London Olympics women's hockey qualifiers here on Friday. Ukraine also notched up a 1-0 triumph over Poland and will play for 3rd-4th place against Canada on Saturday. South Africa, who had three wins and a surprise draw against Italy, scored through...
07:08 PM, Feb 24, 2012
India are just a step away from getting back into the Olympics and the hero - as has historically been the case - is once again a 'Singh' - a last name that is synonymous with Indian hockey ever since the golden age began with the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics. Penalty corner specialist Sandeep Singh's 11 lethal drag-flicks have powered India into the finals of London 2012 Olympic qualifiers. It's ironic,...
09:42 AM, Feb 24, 2012
New Delhi: India's chief hockey coach Michael Nobbs said on Thursday that the boys will go all out for a win against Poland in their last pool match on Friday even when a draw is enough to book a place in the final of the 2012 London Olympics men qualifiers at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium. India are sitting top of the table with 12 points and have a...
09:29 PM, Feb 23, 2012
New Delhi: Sports Minister Ajay Maken on Thursday said that he would like to see the two warring factions - Hockey India (HI) and Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) reach an agreement in the presence of FIH's top officials, who are currently in the country for the ongoing Olympic qualifiers. "HI and IHF should best utilise this opportunity to come together because the entire FIH (International Hockey Federation) top brass is...
09:03 PM, Feb 23, 2012
India's men hockey team is on the brink of the finals and India's former hockey star feels they should play their normal game and they will qualify for London. ...
08:13 PM, Feb 23, 2012
New Delhi: Promising India striker Yuvraj Walmiki was on Thursday ruled out of the remainder of the men's hockey Olympic Qualification tournament due to a hamstring injury. Walmiki sustained the injury during India's third round-robin match against France on Tuesday and did not play in the hard-fought 3-2 win over Canada last night. It is suspected that Walmiki has aggravated a previous injury and might take at least three weeks...
07:25 PM, Feb 23, 2012
