India settled for silver after losing to Australia 3-1 (0-0) in penalty shootout in the final of Champions Trophy hockey tournament in London on Saturday. After their spectacular effort to hold World No.1 Australia at 0-0 in regular time, India missed three penalties in the shootout to go down fighting in a morale-boosting clash. SK Uthappa, vice-captain SV Sunil and Surendar Kumar missed the strokes for India.
There was no let up as the Aussies kept pressing hard from the start, while India hardly enjoyed possession, which was further compounded by an injury to skipper Manpreet Singh.
Scenario-based training, specialist coaches as coach Reid wants to take it one game at a time.
A golden dream unfulfilled for over 30 years remained just that in women's hockey but India equalled its best ever medal haul as sailors joined the assorted contributors to the country's tally at the 18th Asian Games, on Friday.
India went down fighting 1-2 to Belgium in a thrilling final of the first-leg of the Four-Nation Invitational tournament at the Blake Park, in Tauranga, New Zealand, on Sunday.
The Indian men's hockey team's habit of conceding late goals continued to haunt them as reigning double Olympic champions Germany scored seconds from the final hooter to steal a 2-1 victory in a thrilling Pool B match at the Rio Olympics on Monday.
A traditional rivalry will take centre stage when India take on Pakistan in the semi-finals of the Under-18 Asia Cup hockey tournament in Dhaka, on Thursday.
India are now atop the leaderboard with five points from two games, but the Manpreet Singh-led side conceded a point to the Netherlands after drawing (during the regulation time) the second match of the contest on Sunday.
Belgium are on red hot form and have stunned strong gold medal contenders and world champions Australia.
Vandana Kataria slammed a hat-trick as India thrashed minnows Russia 10-1 to enter the quarter-finals in the Junior women's hockey World Cup in Monchengladbach, Germany, on Tuesday.
Australia beat Spain to enter World Cup last four for 12th time on the trot
The opening day of the Hero Hockey World League Final witnessed a major upset as lower-ranked Argentina put up a spirited display to outclass London Olympic silver medallist Netherlands 5-2, while world number two Australia eked out a narrow 3-2 win over Belgium in Pool B at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium on Friday.
Eager to change the shade of the Tokyo bronze, the Indian men's hockey team is now focussing on directly qualifying for the Paris Olympics by winning next year's Asian Games, says young midfielder Hardik Singh.
India struck twice in the second half to beat Malaysia 2-0 and qualify for the semi-finals in the eighth women's Asia Cup hockey tournament at the Stadium Hoki Nasional, in Kuala Lumpur, on Tuesday.
India defeated arch-rivals Pakistan 3-2 in an intense match of the Asian Champions Trophy on Sunday.
It was a battle India had to fight hard against a strong Argentinian forwardline as they earned two more PCs in the 43rd and 51st minutes. But India's PC defence held sway to ensure the lead was not further extended.
With exactly a year to go for the deferred Tokyo Olympics, India hockey captains Manpreet Singh and Rani Rampal are confident of a good showing at the Games.
The draw gave India the fourth position in Group B in the Olympic men's hockey tournament.
Two goals down, India won their Group B match 4-2 and stayed in the hunt for a semi-final berth in the men's hockey tournament.
The eight-time champions were beaten 1-3 by The Netherlands in their opening match in the men's hockey tournament.
Skipper Rani Rampal scored a hat-trick as title contenders India outplayed Thailand 5-0 to storm into the semi-finals of the women's hockey competition at the 18th Asian Games in Jakarta on Monday.
India badminton team have been accorded the top seed this time and are clubbed with Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Scotland in Group A.
To play Spain in crossover for QF berth
Indian men's hockey team finished a disappointing fourth at the Commonwealth Games as it struggled to breach a stout England defence to lose the bronze medal match 1-2, in Gold Coast, on Saturday.
With eight gold medals, Indian men's hockey team has been the most successful side in Olympic history but since the 1980 Moscow Games, the country has not had a podium finish.
This was India's fourth win in the FIH Pro League.
Pakistan avenged their Asian Games final loss when they beat India 4-3 in Bhubaneswar on Saturday to enter the Champions Trophy hockey final.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Sunday
A nervy India squandered a one-goal advantage as they allowed Canada to stage a fightback with a late strike and earn a 2-2 draw in their final men's hockey pool game of the Rio Olympics Games.
A well-oiled Indian unit had raised the hopes of making the semi-finals for the first time since 1975 but the Dutch side broke a million hearts by coming from behind to knock out the hosts 2-1 in the last-eight clash.
India now have registered four wins out of five outings in the FIH Pro League.
India squandered a two-goal lead to suffer a 2-7 hammering at the hands of world champions Australia and crash out of the Hero Hockey World League Final in New Delhi on Wednesday.
India's captain Manpreet Singh and star custodian P R Sreejesh said the team needs to put aside the disappointment of losing to Belgium in the semi-finals and refocus for the bronze medal play-off on Thursday.
'MRI brain done, results awaiting.'
India disastrous campaign at Hero Hockey World League Final continued as they lost 1-3 to New Zealand to succumb to their second straight defeat in Pool A at the floodlit Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium on Saturday.
She said that home support will be a huge boost for them when they compete in the upcoming FIH Olympic Qualifiers.
Upset over India's disastrous show at the London Games, Olympian Michael Kindo has demanded immediate removal of coach Michael Nobbs for slamming the players midway through the Olympics.
India chief coach Roelant Oltmans today said two yellow cards hurt the team badly and that resulted in its 1-2 loss to the Netherlands in a pool B men's hockey match at the Rio Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday. "We were on the attacking side until we got two yellow cards, which was a gamechanger. You had to fight with one or two less. That's not only difficult to score a goal but it also took away a lot of energy from the players that I'm not happy about it," Oltmans said.
'He did not take a loss lying down.' 'He inspired us to go to the next tournament with renewed confidence and helped us perform well.' 'That's the way I would remember him.'
