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Asian Games
By Our Hockey Correspondent
But as the teams get ready for the combat to conquer the gold and a berth for the next Olympics at Athens in 2004, one cannot remain unaffected by the vicissitudes of the teams in the four years. The aftermath of the gold medal triumph for India was one of convulsions of changing coaches and sacking seniors. The nightmare of losing a place in the semifinal at Sydney followed many a haunting moments at Edinborough qualifier, that probably culminated with the 10th place in the World Cup at Kuala Lumpur made more dramatic by the exit of the chief coach, Cedric D'Souza. On the contrary, Korea went from strength to strength, performed creditably in the following Champions Trophy, scooped a silver at the Sydney Olympiad and narrowly missed a bronze in the World Cup, losing to Holland through the golden goal. But twice in successive years, Korea slipped in the Champions Trophy to the last place, the recent one being at Cologne last month. Hearteningly for India, there has been tremendous improvement in the approach, adeptness and athleticism after the tour of Australia. Statistically speaking, India has the edge of recording 18 wins, 10 draws and 17 defeats in the 45 matches played so far. Even in the Asiad, India enjoys the advantage of six win, three draws and a defeat in Hiroshima. But interestingly, India has only won a single final (1998) of the seven played in various tournaments, which include a drawn game in the Indira Gandhi event in 1990. There is no denying that the team has to fight many odds against the home team whose support base is tremendously orchestrated by the units here. A shift in strategy is a sine qua non to take on the Koreans, who, strangely enough, are not as sharp as they are known to be. The Korean strength is on the wings, Hwang and Song, and Yeo Woon Koon in the mid-field and penalty corners, and Shin Seok in the deep defence. Nullifying these men is essential to chart the route for victory. For all the splendid goals that India has scored so far, there is an element of inconsistency in the frontline work. The individual brilliance of Dhanraj Pillay will be enhanced considerably if Deepak, Gagan and Daljit combine more effectively. True, the absence of Prabhjot Singh, who is on way to recovery, has curtailed the fluency of the attack. The mid-field has remained solid under pressure, and both Bimal Lakra and Ignace Tirkey have contributed immensely along with Viren Rasquinha. While Jugraj Singh has played a loose role in between deep defence and mid-field, taking those crafty free hits beyond the 25, he is yet to show the mettle in penalty corners. The drag flicks, his forte, are missing. Even Dilip Tirkey has only played a very subdued role, but goal-keeper Devesh Chauhan has performed his part with aplomb, especially when the match against Pakistan began to touch that torrid pace. In whatever way you analyse it, the gold medal fight promises to be a pulsating contest worth watching for the millions of viewers in the sub-continent and elsewhere. Once again, Pakistan has to fight for a bronze, but this time against Malaysia, whose last medal victory came in Beijing in 1990, where Pakistan claimed the last gold in the Asiad.
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