KUALA LUMPUR – India’s national hockey head coach, Craig Fulton, has issued a rallying cry to his team to avoid any slip-ups at the ongoing Paris Olympics, stressing that “hockey is not an individual sport” as they prepare to face Germany in their semi-final tomorrow.
The 49-year-old South African coach’s response came after the Men in Blue made it to their second semifinal in a row in the multisport event by defeating Great Britain in the quarterfinals in a 4-2 penalty shootout after the match ended 1-1 in normal time at the Stade Yves-du-Manoir in Paris yesterday.
India, which won bronze in the 2020 edition in Tokyo, saw its goal come courtesy of a penalty corner from skipper Harmanpreet Singh in the 22nd minute, while the Brits equalised through Lee Morton in the 27th minute.
The Indian team then played over 40 minutes with one man less after Amit Rohidas was red-carded when his hockey stick hit Great Britain’s William Calnan’s face.
In the shootout, Harmanpreet, Sukhjeet Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, and Rajkumar Pal scored for India. Great Britain’s Connor Williamson fired his shot wide, while PR Sreejesh saved Phillip Roper’s attempt to send India through.
Speaking to Scoop from Paris, Fulton, who was the former assistant head coach for the Belgium team that won Olympic gold in Tokyo, said that he prefers to avoid a penalty shootout and that his team should maintain good discipline against the Germans.
Germany, currently ranked number four in the world, qualified for the semifinals by defeating Argentina 3-2 in the quarters yesterday. The winner between India and Germany will take on either the Netherlands or Spain for gold on August 8.
“We nearly slipped up against the Brits, and we should not allow that to happen again. We were unfortunate with the red card, but we should also be more disciplined in our next match.
“On top of that, we can’t be depending too much on Sreejesh to save the day, as hockey is not an individual sport. We all have to work as a unit if we want to succeed on the turf.
“But overall, it was a fantastic performance from the boys. They were brave from the start till the end, and I need to praise them for not giving up easily despite us being a man down.
“Our main focus for now is to make sure that we rest well and prepare for our next clash. I personally prefer that we win our next match in normal time without going through another shootout,” said Fulton.
At the same time, Fulton also slammed the FIH umpires who officiated the semi-final match, saying that they were biased towards the Brits on several occasions.
“I was actually pretty disappointed with the quality of umpiring today (last night), especially with the way they were reviewing their decisions. Amit’s challenge was not something done on purpose, and they should be a bit fairer with their umpiring.
“But more than that, it’s ridiculous for them (umpires) to allow a British coach to be present behind their goalkeeper during the shootout. I find that to be really unfair to us.
“The opponent’s keeper was also using a tablet during the shootout, watching our previous penalties, and I wonder why the umpire allowed all of these things to happen.
“But I’m happy that we showed the world what we are capable of through Sreejesh. He doesn’t need a tablet to study our opponents’ penalties,” Fulton added.
Sreejesh was awarded the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award (India’s highest sporting honour) in 2021 and is only the second sportsperson from India to win the World Games Athlete of the Year for his role in the team’s bronze medal run in Tokyo.
The Kerala-born athlete also won back-to-back International Hockey Federation Goalkeeper of the Year awards in 2021 and 2022.
For the record, India and Germany have met 106 times since the 1936 Berlin Olympics, with Germany having a higher winning percentage of 50% (53 wins). India has won 26 times, and both sides have drawn on 27 occasions.
India is the most successful team in the sport at the Olympics, having won a total of 12 medals (8 golds, 1 silver, and 3 bronze) since their first appearance in 1928.
The Men in Blue are currently ranked number five in the world with 2,813.89 points. – August 5, 2024