Triple Olympic hockey gold medallist Balbir Singh is hopeful of the P R Sreejesh-led men's hockey team winning a medal at the Games in Rio.
Rajpal Singh and experienced forward Surinder Kaur will lead India's challenge in the men's and women's hockey events respectively at the Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, from November 12-27. Both teams leave for the quadrennial Games on Friday.
More matches between arch-rivals India and Pakistan will only benefit both sides as well as continent's hockey
Let's delve into the five most notable sporting accomplishments that India has achieved post August 15, 1947.
Modi leads politicians and sportspersons in wishing countrymen on National Sports Day
Indian media and public had developed negative feelings about Pakistan after the incident in the Champions Trophy hockey tournament.
The Indian women's hockey team got its act together after being on the backfoot in the first half, to force a 1-1 draw against hosts Australia in the Lanco International Super Series, in Perth, on Friday.
Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen settled for a silver medal after he lost in the men's singles final against Li Shifeng of China in straight games at the Youth Olympics.
'We have to convert our penalty corners successfully and aim at having at least two or three goals through the corner, besides creating the same amount of chances in every quarter.'
Britain beat defending champions the Netherlands on Friday to take home their first Olympic gold medal in women's hockey, winning 2-0 in a tense shootout following a hardfought 3-3 draw.
Rani Rampal will captain an 18-strong Indian women's team, while experienced goalkeeper Savita will shoulder the duties of vice-captain at next month's Commonwealth Games
Former India captain Jude Felix has been appointed coach of the senior men's hockey team. The Olympian will work under chief coach Terry Walsh, Hockey India said on Wednesday.
India whipped lowly Hong Kong 7-0 to keep their hopes alive for a podium finish in the women's hockey competition at the Asian Games.
Indian forwards squandered innumerable scoring chances to see the visitors go down 0-2 to Argentina in the third hockey Test at the Estadio Panamericano in Mar del Plata (Argentina) on Thursday.
Four key players, including ace drag-flicker Rupinder Pal Singh and midfielder S K Uthappa, were dropped from India's 18-man squad for the Hockey World League semi-final, in Antwerp, Belgium, from June 20 to July 5. Besides Rupinder and Uthappa, forwards Mandeep Singh and Satbir Singh got the axe.
The forwards wasted chances galore as India, despite dominating the proceedings settled for a 1-1 draw with Argentina in the second match of the four-Test Under-21 hockey series at the Club Ciudad de Buenos Aires in Buenos Aires. The Indians won the first match of the series 3-2.
India men's hockey team chief coach Roelant Oltmans feels the one week break starting before the Champions Trophy will help the players rejuvenate themselves ahead of the Rio Olympics, the countdown for which has already begun. The 29-member men's hockey squad will be on a week's break before they rejoin on May 29 and Oltmans said the idea, behind the move was to ensure the players are feeling fresh and hungry ahead of next month's FIH Champions Trophy in London. "Starting June 5, the team will be away for almost a month playing two different tournaments in two different countries. Everything we do in this period will be demanding not just physically but also mentally," Oltmans said.
India's hockey team ended its European tour on a high, comfortably defeating Spain 4-2 in its last engagement to win the three-Test series by a 2-1 margin, in Terrassa, on Thursday.
Experienced goalkeeper Bharat Chetri will lead an 18-member Indian team in the men's Four-Nation Olympic Test Event, in London, from May 2 to 6. Star midfielder Sardar Singh will be Chetri's deputy in the squad, which was announced on Tuesday by Hockey India after selection trials at SAI Centre, Bangalore, on April 8 and 9.
'An India-Pakistan hockey match still attracts a lot of excitement, but the pressure thing is gone nowadays' 'We rallied after conceding an early goal and took the lead, but could not win due to a very high level of performance by India'
The duo, who missed the Afro-Asian Games due to injury, were included in the 18-member team.
Malaysia dashed the hopes of defending champions India with a 2-0 victory to enter the final of the Junior Asia Cup hockey in Malacca on Thursday.
The upcoming World Series Hockey will have a touch of Latin flavour following the signing up of six Argentine and three Spanish players for the US $2 million prize-money tournament in India, from December 15 to January 22, 2012. The Argentina players include the renowned Vila brothers, Lucas, Matias and Rodrigo, forward Callioni Facundo and defenders Pedro Ibarra and Juan Martin Lopez.
Coach Roelant Oltmans expressed confidence that the team would make it to the semi-final.
Impressed with the hockey team's showing at the recently-concluded Asian Games, Sports Minister Sarbanada Sonowal said the gold medal triumph could act as a "trigger" for more good things to come.
Defender Gursev Singh fired in two crucial goals to steer former champions Mumbai into the final of the 63rd Rangaswamy Cup Senior National Hockey Championship at the floodlit Aishbagh Astroturf stadium, in Bhopal, on Friday. In the first semi-final, Mumbai routed Chandigarh 3-0, with Gursev scoring the first two goals in the 4th and 63rd minutes and forward Jayesh Jadhav adding the third in the 67th, all off penalty-corners.
A lacklustre India squandered a one-goal advantage and went down 1-3 to Belgium in the quarter-finals of the men's hockey competition at the Rio Olympics on Sunday. The eight-time Olympic gold medallists took the lead through a fine field goal from Akashdeep Singh in the 15th minute before Belgium scored three field goals through Sebastien Dockier (34th, 45th minute) and Tom Boon (50th) to dash India's hopes of their first medal after their last gold in 1980 at Moscow.
Overall, the record stands 1-1 between the two sides as Pakistan had the last laugh in the 2006 Games in Melbourne.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
India's hopes of a podium finish were dashed as they squandered lead on two occasions and went down 2-3 to Ireland in the Sultan Azlan Shah hockey tournament in Ipoh, Malaysia, on Friday.
Manpreet (30th minute, 44th) was the star for sixth- ranked India, while Varun Kumar (17th) and Harjeet Singh (49th) also sounded the board.
The list of core probables of the senior men's hockey team has been pruned down to 33 from 48 after a three-day selection trials held at the SAI Centre, Bangalore from July 25-27.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday
Former India forward Deepak Thakur showed some glimpses of his old touch, firing in five goals in defending champions Indian Oil's 8-1 thrashing of RCF Kapurthala in the Sahara 117th All-India Beighton Cup hockey tournament in Kolkata on Sunday.
Defending Champions Korea and last edition's runners up, Japan arrived in Chennai on Sunday (July 30) night for the Hero Asian Champions Trophy Chennai 2023.
The Indian men's hockey produced a much-improved performance on Wednesday as they defeated New Zealand in the second match to level the four-Test series 1-1 in Nelson, New Zealand.
There is yet another injury blow to India's prospect in the upcoming Asia Cup hockey tournament. The men in blue were dealt a severe blow after star forward S V Sunil had to be ruled out of August 24-September 1 event due to an elbow injury.
Germany were held to frustrating goalless draw by the Netherlands in the Hockey World League (HWL) Final in Raipur on Friday.
Talismanic midfielder Sardar Singh will lead an experimental 18-member India hockey team, which will be without as many as seven players including senior goalkeeper and vice-captain P R Sreejesh, in the 25th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup to be held in Ipoh, Malaysia next month.
