Seeking golden bronze for Sreejesh

Rohit Mahajan in Paris

The loss to Germany in the semifinals was devastating for the Indian hockey players — they’d dominated possession in the first quarter, got seven penalty corners in it, scored the first goal... and yet lost.

India dominated the early exchanges, attacking from the word go, and dazzled and dominated, keeping the ball for 66% of the first quarter. Harmanpreet Singh scored in the seventh minute, but failure to convert any of the other six would hurt — in fact, India converted only two of the 12 penalty corners they got in the match, and this must change in the bronze medal playoff against Spain tomorrow.

PR Sreejesh, the veteran goalkeeper who would play in Indian colours for the last time tomorrow, seemed to be in shock after the loss to Germany, but is still dreaming of a medal. “It’s a medal match and it’s about the country. It’s about those 19 players here, all the staff. And I think we all get a last opportunity to play, to get a medal for our country rather than worrying about what happened,” he said. “These 19 players should play like this is our last opportunity as a player to get a medal for our country.”

India missed Amit Rohidas against Germany in defence, which looked porous and shaky at times.

Rohidas, who was shown the red card during the win over Great Britain in the quarterfinals, returns for the bronze medal, strengthening the defence and also adding to India’s penalty corner options.

The team’s inability to score field goals — the heavy reliance on drag-flicker Harmanpreet is evident from his eight goals — means that if the penalty corners are not converted, India would struggle to score.

Harmanpreet said that the team faltered in both defence and attack in the semifinals. “Defensively we were lacking, and we could have converted our chances,” he said. “We have to fight for bronze now. We came here for gold but we are heartbroken now. We will not go empty handed, though.”

India’s performance in the tournament — the quality of the attacks in the first quarter against Germany, the guts and bloody-minded determination against Great Britain, the win over Australia, the fight against Belgium — would give the team hope and strength to rouse itself after the semifinals defeat.

Spain, thrashed 4-0 by the Netherlands in the first semifinal, would hope that India being under pressure would benefit them. India, ranked fifth against Spain’s eighth currently, would be the favourites to win their second consecutive Olympics bronze.

Sreejesh, ruing the missed opportunities against Germany, said India must make it count and score when they get the chance, and defend well. “We made a couple of errors in the defence of the PC,” he said about the goals conceded against Germany. “We can’t give away such silly things during that game. And in opponents’ half also, we couldn’t make that much of impact, in terms of scoring goals.”

For the one final time in Paris, the focus would be on four-time Olympians Sreejesh and Manpreet Singh, who is playing in his final Olympics. The team desperately wanted gold for Sreejesh, and now they want bronze for him. They’ve got the game, and they must raise it here tomorrow — for Sreejesh, for Manpreet, for India.