Tokyo Olympic 2020 - Hockey

[PKBasu]

All the best to the women; I hope they avenge their pool loss to the Brits, and bring home another medal. I think the team is an inspired lot now, and will be playing on a completely different plane compared with the early stages of the tournament. 7am tomorrow (IST), let's go!!

[sameerph]

Our mens team beat world # 5 to # 9 all here - Germany, New Zealand, Spain, Argentina and Gray Britain and only lost to top 2 - Australia and Belgium. Only 1 bad match against Australia- Belgium match was also close till last 10 mins. Never seen an Indian team being so consistent. They are legit #3 in world now and througly deserve the bronze.

[arjun2761]

Yes, time for our women to beat Gray Britain today.

The hockey medal has given me more joy than all of our medals even though it is only a bronze! I guess it is because we have always expected a hockey medal but it has always disappointed in the past whereas in the other sports we have never really expected much at least until recently. It was as-if we could explain all of our past Olympic futility by saying that we dominated hockey until we didn't.

[jayakris]

I want Gray Britain to stay in the gray area of a top-4 finish. Sameer coined a name for the piddly island now?

[sameerph]

Haha. I will let it stay.

[jayakris]

^^ Love it. Gray Britian, it is. Gray Lady down, today.

[jayakris]

Meanwhile, I wonder how it feels to be a Pakistani today. They must be burning up inside to see India as #3 now. Acually it is quite sad to see where their hockey has gone. Just saw this Al Jazeera report -
How Pakistan hockey went from world-beaters to Olympic absentees
I didn't realize that Pakistan has now missed two Olympics in a row. If they manage to make it to the next one, it will be 12 years since their last appearance. Ranked 18th now, and probably no better than 12th-15th in quality too, I don't know if they will make it in for 2024 either.

[sameerph]

Just went thru the earlier pages of this thread and see on 4th page of this thread where Jay you were denying that you predicted an Indian medal in this olympics and someone posted a quote from another thread.

That was in October 2019 and see where we are now.

[jayakris]

^^^ Oh yeah, I said "let me be the first to predict a medal for us at the next Olympics" and then forgot about it; so i denied having said it. When I was caught, I said, it was because PKB's spirit must have possessed me. But anyway, I guess I *was* the first one to predict a medal for us

[jayakris]

Reading those early pages of this thread on Olympics qualification in late 2019 is fun... I had forgotten that our women almost didn't qualify. Had to beat USA in a 2-game series, had a 5-1 advantage in the first game and fell behind 0-4 in the second game... Needed a last-gasp score by Rani to pull through 6-5... And here were, playing the bronze medal match. What a ride from the Chake De Ladies!

[Orang]

Sreejesh seems like a great person. Still can't believe Germany scored in just 1 of 13 penalty corners.

https://www.espn.com/olympics/fieldhock ... 0-olympics

The guy hadn't stepped out of Australia ever so I was excited that he tried the red and green chilies out. I called Sreejesh over and asked 'buddy which ones you think he could try?' Sreejesh came over, took a fist of red chilies and munched on them like carrots. My friend from Australia was mighty impressed and took a bite off one himself and almost passed out. That's Sreejesh. Crazy, brilliant and full of fun.

https://indianexpress.com/article/olymp ... ze7439254/

Last year, he was spotted cleaning the unkempt lane in front of his house in a shirt and lungi with a handloom towel wrapped around his forehead; the video went viral. To curious onlookers, he gently replied: “Who else would wash the dirt that has accumulated in front of my house?”

[sameerph]

Meanwhile, I wonder how it feels to be a Pakistani today. They must be burning up inside to see India as #3 now. Acually it is quite sad to see where their hockey has gone. Just saw this Al Jazeera report -
How Pakistan hockey went from world-beaters to Olympic absentees
I didn't realize that Pakistan has now missed two Olympics in a row. If they manage to make it to the next one, it will be 12 years since their last appearance. Ranked 18th now, and probably no better than 12th-15th in quality too, I don't know if they will make it in for 2024 either.

And in fact Pakistan stayed as one of the 4-5 teams long after we had gone out of it in early 80's itself. Pakistan were very much contending for medals at world level much after that and now they are totally out of it. I think terrorism there and absence of international events at home must have hurt them too like their cricket team which is nowhere near their past levels too.

[jayakris]

Sreejesh seems like a great person. Still can't believe Germany scored in just 1 of 13 penalty corners.

It all comes from the lungi (mentioned in both the articles you quoted). Malayali and his checkered lungi are inseparable. (Applies to me too)....

Meanwhile, I got this on whatsapp:

"Girls lost to GBR; boys beat them
Boys lost to AUS; girls beat them
Girls lost to ARG; boys beat them
Girls lost to GER; boys beat them
If you beat our girls, our boys will beat you
If you beat our boys, our girls will beat you"

[jayakris]

And in fact Pakistan stayed as one of the 4-5 teams long after we had gone out of it in early 80's itself. Pakistan were very much contending for medals at world level much after that and now they are totally out of it. I think terrorism there and absence of international events at home must have hurt them too like their cricket team which is nowhere near their past levels too.

Yes. They were able to handle the astroturf much better than us, like in their 1984 Gold at Los Angeles against a full field. Even as recently as 2010, they were up there and we were in the pits of hockey. Sad to see a whole country going down the tubes like they have, and not just in hockey. Their obsession with Kashmir, penchant to take the opposite direction to India in picking their friends, and tacit approval and nurturing of terrorism and religious fundamentalism, etc, have destroyed their country. A failed state now. Sad. They are not even able to be a bug or a pest anymore. They are like worms that can only crawl and get crushed by their friends and foes alike. When will they see the light? Never, I guess.

[usaindia]