The Hindu : Sport / Hockey : France embarrasses India

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Dec 28, 2004

Sport

Sport - Hockey

France embarrasses India

By K.P. Mohan

NEW DELHI, DEC 27. Indian hockey continued its downward slide that had begun in Athens. As India suffered a rare and humiliating 1-3 defeat to France in the first Test here on Monday, irate fans shouted slogans against the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) and veterans wondered where we were headed for.

The last time India lost an international to France was in the 1990 World Cup in Lahore. It was a 1-2 loss then. On Monday, the French led 3-0 in half an hour and went for the break at 3-1. There was no further scoring, though the Indian side did show more attacking intentions in the second half.

The lack of cohesion in the frontline stood out as India struggled to string together a move worth mention in the first half. Adding to the misery was a fumbling defence, with skipper Dilip Tirkey being no exception this day. In the midfield, the absence of an attacking pivot was glaring, no matter at least three — Vivek Gupta, Bimal Lakra and Nitin Kumar — were tried out.

The French grabbed their chances well. Nicolas Gaillard opened the scoring in the ninth minute, slamming home on the run after Stephane Jaquet and Gerome Branquard had done the spadework.

An Antoine Moreau dribble caught the Indian defence off guard next and the French captain made no mistake with an angular shot to beat Devesh Chauhan, far from his best under the cage.

Chauhan blocked a Thomas Raisin shot on the half-hour mark but Sebastien Jean-Jean was quick to slam home the rebound. Three down, against a side that had lost to Indian Airlines on Sunday, the Indian team looked worse than a lowly-rated club side and the crowd began to chant slogans against K. P. S. Gill (IHF Chief) and tended to cheer each and every French attack.!

Consolation goal

Sandeep Singh's penalty-corner conversion, a minute from the interval, was a consolation for a team that seemed not to have shed the Gerhard Rach defensive mode, though Jagbir Singh was in charge of the `bench'. The Indian coach did ring in changes at quick intervals, without being able to alter the trend. Tushar Khandkar and Hari Prasad did try to beat the defence with their speed late in the second half, but Christopher Musgens and Charles Verrier were outstanding in handling the threats in the rival defence.

India lacked a playmaker. Arjun Halappa tried to fashion a few moves, but often mis-passed. Or else, he as well as the others tended to hold onto the ball for too long. Deepak Thakur, brought back into the team after having missed the Indo-Pak series and Champions Trophy, did nothing of note.

India had four penalty corners. Once Sandeep, given a yellow card suspension in the second half, flicked high and wide and on another occasion goalkeeper Julien Thamin blocked him. Dilip Tirkey and French player Jaquet were also given temporary suspensions for dangerous play.

The second Test will be played on Tuesday at the same venue.

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