Their quest for Gold didn’t take off as planned when the Indian men’s hockey team drew 2-2 against arch-rivals Pakistan in their opening Pool B match last week. Despite a 4-3 win against Wales and 2-1 win against Malaysia in the following matches, the team didn’t look dangerous enough to be considered as Gold medal contenders. However, they managed to turn tables in their encounter against England, where India scored two successive goals in the final 1.36 minutes through Varun Kumar’s 3-3 equalizer and Mandeep Singh’s 4-3 winner in the 60th minute which was brilliantly set up by skipper Manpreet Singh.
It was their ‘winning mentality’ that saw the team through.
It is this winning attitude that the team wants to carry into their semifinal match against New Zealand, who had a good outing in Pool A with big wins against Canada (6-2), South Africa (6-0), Scotland (5-2) and a narrow 1-2 loss against Australia. “Against New Zealand too, we don’t want to focus too much on what they bring to the table, but we want to focus on our own strengths and ensure we fight till the last whistle,” asserted Manpreet.
Eves lose
Indian women's team failed to capitalise on two goal-scoring chances in the dying minutes to lose the semifinal 0-1 to triple defending champions Australia. India will now clash with England for a Bronze medal on Saturday.