Internet Desk: It’s been a remarkable year for Indian hockey for both men and women. From South Asian games to Asia cup, Indian hockey has registered splendid performances throughout the year. As the year comes to an end xtratime.in looks back at this successful year of the Indian hockey.
India started off their journey this year in South Asian games. India men’s team secured the silver after they got defeated in the final against the arch rival Pakistan. On the other hand, Indian women’s hockey team showed a breathtaking performance to clinch the gold.
In Sultan Azlan Shah tournament, India defeated heavyweight countries like Malaysia, Pakistan as well as teams like Canada, New Zealand, Japan etc. And they only lost to Australia and finished 2nd in the group table. When they met Australia in the final for the 2nd time in the tournament, they failed to register a win against the Aussies and finished as runners up in the tournament.
In the Champions Trophy, India started off their journey well, they played out a 3-3 draw with Germany and then India beat Great Britain and South Korea and reached the Final. They lost in the shoot-outs against Australia in the final after playing a goal-less draw in normal time.
Meanwhile, India Jr. boys’ Team won both the matches against the Russian side Dynamo Stroitel in Euro-Asia cup to clinch the title.
Indian women’s team made the country proud when they visited The USA . They have won every single game in the tour. They had beaten The USA and Canada on both the occasions.
Indian men’s team did compete in the 6 Nations Invitational tournament in mid June which was held in Valencia, Spain. But they put a poor performance in the tournament, having being the winner of the only match against Ireland, India lost miserably to Germany, New Zealand.
Once regarded as the clear favourites, team India, has not put a great performance in Olympic since long. The Men’s hockey team started off their journey in Olympics very brightly in August. They defeated Ireland and the current Olympic gold winner Argentina in the group stages and settled for a draw with Canada and lost to Germany and Netherlands. They reached the quarter final and after playing a superb game, they lost the battle against Belgium, the match ended as 2-1 in favour of Belgium.
On the flip side of it, Indian women’s team had not been qualified in the main stage of the Olympics for long but in the Rio Olympics they made it to the main stage. The women failed to impress like the men as they lost in every single match in their group stage except Japan. They finished their Olympic tally with only 1 point.
In the u-18 Asia Cup, the men’s team did a very good job, they only lost to Bangladesh in the opening match but the rest of the matches they won. They beat host Bangladesh by 5-4 in the final of the tournament to win the cup.
The Asian Champions Trophy was held in Malaysia this time. Indian Men’s hockey team thrashed Japan by 10-2 in the opening match. However, the team started to develop as the tournament progressed. They defeated Pakistan, China and Malaysia in the group stage. In the semi-final they defeated Korea in the shootout. When India met their arch-rival Pakistan in the final, they defeated them by 3-2 and lifted the Champions Trophy.
Indian Women’s team too made their country proud like the boys. They defeated Korea and Malaysia in the group stage and held a 2-2 draw with Japan. In the final, they met China again by whom they were defeated in the group stage. Though they took a sweet revenge in the final and they defeated China by 2-1 and won the Asian Champions trophy.
In the 4 nations invitational tournament in Australia, Indian men’s team became third, they defeated Malaysia by 4-1 in the 3rd-4th spot decider.
The test series between India and Australia, the men in blue won one and lost one. While the women’s team lost twice against Australia.
In December, India colts created history by winning the FIH Junior Hockey World Cup after a gap of 15 long years with a clinical 2-1 victory against Belgium in the final. Having finished at a deplorable 13th spot in the last edition of the tournament in New Delhi, it was a mission for the hosts to rewrite history and the hosts duly achieved that riding on its brilliant performance in the 11th edition of the event.