'I play in the present without thinking about the buzz in the background,' says Vivek Sagar Prasad, who has just won the FIH Rising Star of the Year award.
'I was not able to watch that 19th over bowled by Arshdeep.' 'My son and daughter were watching the match and my eyes were closed.' 'When they used to shout 'Dot ball', I used to open my eyes, that is how I saw that Arshdeep over.'
The Indian men's hockey team bounced back with a comfortable win over Argentina in the FIH Hockey Pro League.
The rejection of Vinesh's appeal means India's tally from the Paris Olympics will be of six medals which includes one silver and five bronze.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Monday.
Men's hockey team captain Harmanpreet Singh on Saturday admitted India will have to focus on conceding fewer goals from the touchline and create more scoring opportunities.
Hockey India Secretary General Narinder Batra on Wednesday took moral 'responsibility' for the country's early ouster from the Hero FIH Junior Men's World Cup and apologised to the fans for letting them down.
Sjoerd Marijne said he found it hard to recognise the team he has been coaching while watching it squander lead and settle for a frustrating 2-2 draw against a lackadaisacal Pakistan in the Commonwealth Games on Saturday.
Four-time champions Pakistan produced a lion-hearted performance before going down 0-1 to Olympic bronze medallist Germany in their opening Pool D match of the 2018 Hockey World Cup.
A summary of sports events that made news on Wednesday.
India endured a medal-less outing at the Youth Olympics after the gold rush of the previous three days as the women's hockey team lost to Argentina and rising table tennis player Archana Kamath went down in the bronze medal match in Buenos Aires.
India went through some anxious dying moments before eking out a close 5-4 win over hosts Malaysia and registered their second consecutive win of the eighth junior men's Asia Cup hockey tournament, in Kuantan, on Sunday.
A pall of gloom shrouded the Pakistan hockey community after the national team failed to qualify for the Olympics.
World No 1 Australia scored three goals in the final quarter to register their second consecutive win in Pool B at the Kalinga Stadium.
Defender and dragflicker Varun Kumar who scored the maximum goals in India's successful campaign in Valencia will be joined by Vikramjit Singh and Gurinder Singh in the defence structure, while the midfield will be formed by Santa Singh, Nilakanta Sharma, Manpreet, Sumit along with Harjeet Singh.
Meet India's top athletes at Olympics 2024.
Continuing with their impressive run, India blanked Canada 3-0 to register their second consecutive win at the Hockey World League Semi-Final, in London, on Saturday
Talented Chinglensana Singh and seasoned S V Sunil scored a goal each as the Indian men's hockey team started their tour of Europe with a 2-0 victory over hosts France on Monday.
Brushing aside the disappointing show against Argentina in the tournament opener, hosts India produced a much-improved performance as they held Olympic champions Germany to a 1-1 draw in their second Pool B match of the Hockey World League (HWL) Final.
India beat Japan 4-0 to win women's Asian Champions Trophy hockey title
The Indian women's hockey team ended a three-match losing streak by upstaging Japan 2-0 in its penultimate pool match at the FIH World Cup at the Jockey Club in Rosario, Argentina, on Sunday. The team -- which was convincingly beaten in their first three matches by the Netherlands, Australia and Germany -- led 1-0 at half-time, with Rani Rampal scoring in the 14th minute.
Mumbai Marines and Delhi Wizards played out a 2-2 draw in their World Series Hockey match in Mumbai on Sunday, pitchforking the former into the joint lead with Sher-E-Punjab and Bhopal Badshahs.
Belgium won a tense penalty shootout 3-2 against three-times champions Netherlands to win their first men's hockey World Cup title.
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.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Wednesday
It was touted as the year which could herald a change in the fortunes Indian hockey, but 2018 turned out to be yet another saga of missed opportunities for the sport.
The Indian women's hockey team took giant leap towards Olympic qualification with a near-flawless performance to hammer United States 5-1 in the first-leg of the two-match FIH 2020 Olympic Qualifier.
Olympic silver medallist Spain continued their domination over England in the hockey World Cup, defeating the European Champions 2-0 in their last pool match at the 12th edition of the mega-event in New Delhi on Monday.
India continued to torment Pakistan in the Hero Hockey World League Semifinals, hammering the arch-rivals 6-1 in a 5th-8th place classification match, in London on Saturday.
Defending champions India continued their unbeaten run as they beat South Korea 5-3 in the Pool A match to storm into the semi-finals of the men's hockey competition at the 18th Asian Games.
India's hopes of qualifying for the title clash hung in balance as they succumbed 2-4 to world champions Australia in their last league outing of the 36th Hero Champions Trophy Hockey tournament in London on Thursday. India's two goals came from penalty corner shooter VR Raghunath and striker Mandeep Singh, but it was too late to cause any threat to Australia, who had gained a stranglehold through strikes from Trent Mitton, Aran Zalewski, Flynn Ogilvie and Tristian White.
'Shahid was an artist, the kind who treated the hockey pitch as his own canvas.'
With less than 10 days to go for their opening match in the FIH Champions Trophy in London, Indian men's hockey team chief coach Roelant Oltmans said he is eyeing a top three finish in the high-profile tournament. Oltmans believes if things go according to plans, the team will stand a good chance to win a medal in the Champions Trophy. "Everybody knows we are good in the knockout stage. But Champions Trophy this year will be slightly different and we need to finish top two to play the final and be top four to play for bronze. "It will be interesting to see how our players will cope to this situation and face the challenge. Our realistic expectation is to finish in the top three," he said about his expectations from the event.
With one win and a draw, India are currently placed on top of Pool C ahead of Belgium
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.
Goalkeeper PR Sreejesh starred in front of the goal to help India beat South Korea via the penalty shootout to enter the final of the fourth Asian Champions Trophy hockey tournament, in Kuantan, Malaysia on Saturday.
Minnows Austria continued to impress in the ongoing men's Junior Hockey World Cup as they spanked declining Asian powerhouse Korea 5-2 in Lucknow on Saturday to remain in contention for a surprise quarter-final berth from Pool A in the 16-team tournament.
Overall, the record stands 1-1 between the two sides as Pakistan had the last laugh in the 2006 Games in Melbourne.
'The level we played in Champions Trophy will not be enough for the Olympics if we are vying for a medal'
