Tokyo Olympic 2020 - Hockey

[ssp]

Assuming we get into the quarter finals, I don't fancy our chances against any of the opponents at that stage. GB are potentially beatable, but we tend to do badly against them when it really matters. They also tend to get the most favourable umpiring decisions of all .

The Pro League will be a good indicator of how we match up against the best teams. I'm hoping Reid can make some improvements to our play.

I'd be delighted if our women get into the quarter finals....and do something amazing from there. They have come a long way in the past 3-4 years.

[srini]

Let me try to predict the Quarters linep.

Group A : Australia, Japan, India, NZ in that order.
Group B : Belgium, Great Britain, Netherlands and Germany in that order.

Japan (WR15) ahead of India (WR5) and NZ (WR9)? Does that have something to do with home cooking?

My predictions are in line with these teams latest performances and world rankings do not seem responsive enough for these spikes or dips in performance of teams.Let’s not forget Japan are the current continental champions and could have got the quota booked even if they hadn’t hosted the Olympics.

One more interesting observation is all three medalists of Asian games ( including India) didn’t participate in the FIH Pro league and there is dip in performance of all the European teams which did. Makes me believe too much of exposure to competition seems to be working adversely for teams, it may be due to burn out resulting from competing at highest level for an extended time and may also be due to giving out most of their strategies during these competition to video analysts of opponent nations.

Now if we come to think India will also join and start their Pro league season we shouldn’t be surprised if it pulls them back to their usual mediocrity. And Japan not being part of the league will continue to hold the edge of not revealing their strategies while being able to track every other team they would compete with in their group in olympics

[sameerph]

Our schedule is out for olympics -

Indian men's hockey team Olympics schedule (All timings in IST)

Saturday, July 25 - India vs New Zealand - 6.30 am
Sunday, July 26 - India vs Australia - 3 pm
Tuesday, July 28 - India vs Spain - 6.30 am
Thursday, 30 July - India vs Argentina - 6 am
Friday, 31 July - India vs Japan - 3 pm
Sunday, 2 August - Quarterfinals - 6 am, 8.30 am, 3 pm, 5.30 pm
Tuesday, 4 August - Semifinals - 7 am, 3.30 pm
Thursday, 6 August - Bronze medal match (7 am), Final (3.30 pm)

Indian women's hockey team Olympics schedule

Saturday, July 25 - India vs Netherlands - 5.15 pm
Monday, 27 July - India vs Germany - 5.45 pm
Wednesday, 29 July - India vs Great Britain - 6.30 am
Friday, 31 July - India vs Ireland - 8.15 am
Saturday, 1 August - India vs South Africa - 8.45 am
Monday, 3 August - Quarterfinals - 6 am, 8.30 am, 3 pm, 5.30 pm
Wednesday, 5 August - Semifinals - 7 am, 3.30 pm
Friday, 7 August - Bronze medal match (7 am), Final (3.30 pm)

Usually our teams start off slow. So, I actually prefer tougher matches where we have lower chances of winning first up. Now, lets see how our mens team fares against NZ against whom we have struggled in the past.

[PKBasu]

If we can start with a win over NZ in the first match, I expect that India will meet Australia in the final on August 6th (at 7pm local time). I will try to make it to Tokyo if that happens...

[jaydeep]

The teams are announced for Tokyo ... As selection was limited to 16, we have selected a single goal-keeper in the team and decided to go with experience

Indian Women's Team
Goalkeeper: Savita
Defenders: Deep Grace Ekka, Nikki Pradhan, Gurjit Kaur, Udita
Midfielders: Nisha, Neha, Sushila Chanu Pukhrambam, Monika, Navjot Kaur, Salima Tete
Forwards: Rani Rampal, Navneet Kaur, Lalremsiami, Vandana Katariya, Sharmila Devi

Chief Coach Sjoerd Marijne: “This team has worked very hard over the last few years and has made progress consistently. There’s a good mix of experienced players and new talent, which is excellent. We look forward to taking on the best in the world in Tokyo. This is a team with a lot of potential and drive which we hope to channelise to our best performance yet.”

[jaydeep]

Overall of good selection ... Good to see Akashdeep Singh is not selected but Mandeep Singh is in the team ... SV Sunil and Ramandeep Singh also failed to make a cut ... Our defense looking good and having strong mid-fields.

Indian Men's Team
GoalKeeper:PR Sreejesh
Defenders: Harmanpreet Singh, Rupinder Pal Singh, Surender Kumar, Amit Rohidoss, Birendra Lakra
Midfielders: Hardik singh, Manpreet SIngh, Vivek Sagar, Nilakanta Sharma, Sumit
Forwards: Shamsher Singh, Dilpreet Singh, Gurjant Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Mandeep Singh

Chief Coach Graham Reid:“It has not been an easy process to make the final selection of 16 players as there is a lot of quality and ambition in this group of players. The performance levels of all the athletes are at an optimum level and more importantly they work well together. They know what it means to represent the country at the Olympics. We are now focused on training with the same intensity and our goal is to put forward our best performance as a collective unit in Tokyo.”

[ssp]

Quite pleased with the men's team, apart from Mandeep getting in over Ramandeep . Even Akashdeep would have been preferable. I'd have taken Shilanand Lakra or Simranjeet.

In defence, I'm not convinced about Amit Rohidas. He can be rash and has cost us vital games (2018 WC quarter final and an Azlan Shah final). I think he got the nod over Varun because of his PC defence. The other worry is Rupinder Pal's lack of mobility and crazy dribbles.

Just hope we can play without fear and keep up the intensity in each and every game. Maybe we can get past the QF stage.

Women's team seems the best available, but their recent form hasn't been great, so not expecting much.

[sameerph]

My main concern is the team will have no match practice for 3-4 months when they go into Tokyo olympics. I wonder like Neeraj Chopra or Vinesh or Mirabai Chanu, why hockey team was not moved early to Europe. It could then have served the quarentine period and then played some practice matches.

[PKBasu]

I'm surprised that we have just one goalkeeper in the squad. Never seen this before. Given that the specialist position is injury-prone, it is really surprising that a reserve 'keeper isn't in the squad.

[jaydeep]

I'm surprised that we have just one goalkeeper in the squad. Never seen this before. Given that the specialist position is injury-prone, it is really surprising that a reserve 'keeper isn't in the squad.

PKB, every team will announce only single goal-keeper in their 16 members squad ... This happened in 2016 Rio Olympics also.

There is a provision of the reserves or the Alternate Athletes for the hockey teams, who would be traveling to Tokyo and can replace a player in case of any injury or any other medical emergency ... Of-course after the approval from the IOC, FIH and National Olympic Committee.

These players are travelling with the teams, Varun Kumar (defender) , Simranjeet Singh (forward) and Krishan B. Pathak (goalkeeper) as reserves, in the women’s team, Namita Toppo (midfielder) , Reena Khokhar (defender) and Rajani Etimarpu (goalkeeper).

[PKBasu]

Thanks for the clarification, Jaydeep. That's a relief. So each team actually has 19 players, but only 16 are officially in the squad and the rest are reserves. This is quite sensible.

[arjun2761]

I assume that in case of an ingame injury, one of the field players will have to play in goal. Presumably, the reserves will have to be activated in some way...

[jaydeep]

Correct Arjun ... These reserves are not allowed in-game injury, at that time one of available player from 16 need to do the needful

[jaydeep]

Correct Arjun ... These reserves are not allowed in-game injury, at that time one of available player from 16 need to do the needful

[PKBasu]

Our schedule is out for olympics -

Indian men's hockey team Olympics schedule (All timings in IST)

Saturday, July 24 - India vs New Zealand - 6.30 am
Sunday, July 25 - India vs Australia - 3 pm
Tuesday, July 27 - India vs Spain - 6.30 am
Thursday, 29 July - India vs Argentina - 6 am
Friday, 30 July - India vs Japan - 3 pm
Sunday, 1 August - Quarterfinals - 6 am, 8.30 am, 3 pm, 5.30 pm
Tuesday, 3 August - Semifinals - 7 am, 3.30 pm
Thursday, 5 August - Bronze medal match (7 am), Final (3.30 pm)

Indian women's hockey team Olympics schedule

Saturday, July 24 - India vs Netherlands - 5.15 pm
Monday, 26 July - India vs Germany - 5.45 pm
Wednesday, 28 July - India vs Great Britain - 6.30 am
Friday, 30 July - India vs Ireland - 8.15 am
Saturday, 31 July - India vs South Africa - 8.45 am
Monday, 2 August - Quarterfinals - 6 am, 8.30 am, 3 pm, 5.30 pm
Wednesday, 4 August - Semifinals - 7 am, 3.30 pm
Friday, 6 August - Bronze medal match (7 am), Final (3.30 pm)

Usually our teams start off slow. So, I actually prefer tougher matches where we have lower chances of winning first up. Now, lets see how our mens team fares against NZ against whom we have struggled in the past.

It's amazing that there is essentially no change to the line-ups and match schedules from a year ago, except that each match will be played one date sooner (although on the same day of the week as previously scheduled in December 2019). I have taken the liberty of changing the dates in Sameer's post from 19 months ago.

India are in the tougher group -- with Argentina, Australia. But India beat Argentina in Argentina a few months ago. First match is a must-win against NZ, who have given us trouble at the Olympics. Japan, the easiest match, is the last one -- so we'll know what we need to do in that match to maximize our chances in the QF.

The other men's pool contains all the European heavyweights -- Belgium, Germany, Netherlands, Great Britain -- plus two weak teams in South Africa and Canada.