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Coming back to life
Australia, Germany start favourites
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Scribes boycott FIH conference again
Proteas claim consolation win
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Coming back to life
New Delhi, February 27 It is after a gap of 28 years
that India is playing host to 12 top teams of the globe in this 38-match
mega event that brings them face to face with their traditional arch
rivals and neighbours Pakistan in the opener. Interestingly, in the
1986 World Cup in Willesden, England, India and Pakistan fought each
other to avoid the wooden spoon. Unfortunately, India lost the game and
took the wooden spoon. And the subsequent edition of the World Cup saw
Pakistan emerging like a Phoenix to end losing to Jan Floris
Bovelander’s penalty strikes in the final. From 11th in 1986 to silver
medal in 1990 was a no mean achievement for Pakistan. Will India, who
had finished 11th in the 11th World Cup at Munchengladbach in Germany in
2006, be able to repeat what Pakistan had then in 1990? It is a million
rupee question, answer to which will be partially available after the
last game of the first day on Sunday. One hopes Holi will prove lucky
for the home team. Otherwise, India’s immediate past record against
Pakistan is far from encouraging as they had lost the Champions
Challenge game 3-6 besides losing the gold medal match to Pakistan in
the just concluded SAF Asian games in Dhaka. Though the hosts had been
in a thick of controversies for the past six weeks, yet the performance
of their team in practice games against Argentina and the Netherlands
had ended in identical 2-1 wins for them. It must have warmed the
cockles of hearts of ardent hockey followers throughout the country and
even overseas. Playing before the home crowd on a Sunday and a
‘Holi’ day puts India at a slight advantage against a team that has
world’s top scorer in Sohail Abbas. His lethal penalty corner strikes
are all that India has to defend. In case they manage to do that, start
could be on a positive note. If one looks back at the history of
Indo-Pak encounters, they had been played right from the gold medal
match to the wooden medal match. While in 1975, India defeated Pakistan
to win its only gold in the World Cup, London, as mentioned above was
the nadir for both these teams. Pakistan is the only team to have won
the World Cup four times. And the last time was 16 years ago in Sydney
where it had defeated the Netherlands in penalty shootout after 1-1
draw. And in the last World Cups, the gold medal match had been between
Germany and Australia with the former remaining victor on both
occasions. Australia’s solitary World Cup triumph was in Willesden,
England in 1986, while Netherlands is at number two having won this
coveted Cup three times, including 1973 in Amstelveen, 1990 in Lahore
and 1998 at Utrecht. Interestingly, the Netherlands and the Germany have
been the only countries, who as hosts have been gold medal winners.
Spain, England and Pakistan as hosts ended with silver medals.
Australia, Germany start favourites
New Delhi, February 27 Defending champions Germany and runners-up Australia
start favourites though the Germans, who are on a hat-trick trail, were
modest saying that Australia were the chosen team. The Germans’ first
target would be to enter the semifinal, and then plot for the title.
Australia, who are desperate to shake off the tag of “ever the best
man, never the bride groom,” as they had finished runners-up to
Germany both at Kuala Lumpur and Monchengladbach, had beaten Germany in
the Champions Trophy final last year to exact some revenge. But a
World Cup win is a different cup of joy, and the team from Down Under
would try their best to cloud the German renaissance. German captain
Maximillan Muller had made a pertinent observation that Australia often
failed in the big ticket events like the World Cup and the Olympic
Games. Australian captain Jamie Dwyer is determined to change that
image. Australia first won the Cup in 1986 marshalled by the
incomparable Rick Charlesworth, who had made his debut in 1975 at Kuala
Lumpur, where India had captured their one and only title. When India
first hosted the World Cup in 1982 in Mumbai, Pakistan had bagged the
title, and the hosts had finished fifth. Since then, India and Pakistan
have drifted deeper into the mire of world hockey, and that record they
would try to set right, now that the event has once again returned to
the sub-continent. Pakistan were a force to reckon with in the initial
years, with their title win at the inaugural edition in Barcelona in
October 1971, testifying to their supremacy. Indian captain Rajpal and
Pakistan counterpart Ashraf feel that they have the talent to at least
make a semifinal finish here. Ever since astro turf (synthetic surface)
was introduced, the European teams and Australia have been dominating
the show. The fitter and faster European and Australian teams, with
their quick attack and counter-attacks, man to man marking, and
maintaining a fast-paced attack from start to finish, have been
dominating the sweepstakes. The Asian teams have invariably fallen
short on tactics and strategy on astro turf and they continue to rue
their failure to make it big. Germany, who lost to England in the
Eurocup Hockey final and then succumbed to Australia in the Champions
Trophy, have just three players from the 2006 World Cup winning squad,
and nine players from the Olympic gold winning team. But the superbly
fit, and gifted Germans have kept their cards close to their chest, and
despite their humble demeanour, they would spare no effort to complete a
hat-trick of titles. Holland, England, Olympic runners-up Spain and
New Zealand also nurse a strong urge to make a podium finish here. And
so are Korea, who were the only Asian country to finish among the last
four in the 2006 World Cup. Holland, who won the Cup thrice — in
1973, ‘90 and ‘98 - also fancy their chances as they had always
prided about their penalty corner specialists like Paul Litjens, Ties
Cruise, Floris Bovelander and the present star Taeke Taekema. With the
new turf generating lots of bounce, there would be plenty of penalty
corners, and the teams with the best drag-flickers are expected hold a
decisive edge. Olympic finalists Spain are also capable of making their
mark, while South Africa and Argentina can turn out to be the dark
horses and any team who take them lightly would do it at their own
peril. |
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Scribes boycott FIH conference again
New Delhi, February 27 He also complained about the
harrasment which the covering mediapersons were facing on the pretext of
security concerns. After listening patiently to the scribe, Negre
apologised to the reporters for the mismanagement. “On behalf of FIH,
I apologise to you all for the inconvenience caused to you. We were
aware about all your problems and are trying our best to solve them,”
he said. “But at this moment, security is a big issue in India. And
frankly I tell you all the accreditations is not in our hand. Being the
FIH president, I myself am facing a lot of problems in entering the
stadium,” he added. — PTI |
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Proteas claim consolation win
Ahmedabad, February 27 India, who has already won the series 2-0,
had to be contend with a 2-1 victory after they failed to overhaul the
huge target, despite some useful contributions by Virat Kohli (57),
Rohit Sharma (48) and Suresh Raina (49). Earlier, Jacques Kallis and AB
de Villiers struck belligerent unbeaten centuries to power South Africa
to an imposing score of 365 for two. Kallis slammed unbeaten 104 in 94
balls with three sixes and five fours while de Villiers, who scored his
second ton on the trot in the series, carted the bowlers for three sixes
and eleven fours in his 59-ball innings. The duo’s 173-run
partnership came in only 103 balls as the inexperienced Indian attack
was exposed thoroughly on the feather-bed of a pitch at the Sardar Patel
Stadium in Motera. Ravindra Jadeja was the pick of the bowlers once
again with figures of 1 for 53 while Pathan (1 for 66) was expensive.
South Africa, playing for pride after having conceded a 2-0 lead to
India, were given a rock-solid start by openers Loots Bosman and Hashim
Amla who put on 113 runs after electing to bat first. Bosman slammed
four sixes and seven fours during his knock while Amla’s innings was
studded eight fours. Amla and Bosman commenced the South Africa innings
on a brisk note against a virtual second-string pace attack without both
Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra, who were rested. Amla, who had an
outstanding Test series and was asked to stay back for the ODIs after
Graeme Smith flew back home.— PTI Scoreboard Bosman c Jadeja b Pathan 68 (46) India: Karthik c Amla b Steyn 11 (11) |
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Putting
aside their golden past, India start their campaign in the 12th World
Cup at the historic Major Dhyan Chand National Hockey Stadium here
tomorrow as underdogs with defending champions Germany and runners-up
Australia.
New Delhi, February 27
New Delhi, February 27
India's bid for a clean sweep failed today with
South Africa registering a consolation win over India by 90 runs in the
third and final ODI, riding on twin tons by Jacques Kallis and AB de
Villiers. Electing to bat first, South Africa's top order fired in
unison as they amassed a mamoth 365 for two first and then shot out
India for 275 in 44.3 overs.
