Indian Sports: News and Discussion

hit&run

United States of Hindu Empire
Mod
Joined
May 29, 2009
Messages
14,104
Likes
63,370
Watching Lakshya Sen’s Badminton singles game. Very promising player.
He has won Gold. Well done Lakshey Sen. I predicted good on Neeraj Chopra during his QFs and now this one I made during his QF first set.

The best badminton player is the one who do not over commit. He was the one with this trait.
I hope we get ahead of NZ in medals tally.
 

hit&run

United States of Hindu Empire
Mod
Joined
May 29, 2009
Messages
14,104
Likes
63,370
Lakshey Boy had good celebrations. Two medals in Badminton Singles. Good show.
 

hit&run

United States of Hindu Empire
Mod
Joined
May 29, 2009
Messages
14,104
Likes
63,370
Indian men’s Hockey team getting mauled by Australia. Indian defence is just there for the presence.
 

hit&run

United States of Hindu Empire
Mod
Joined
May 29, 2009
Messages
14,104
Likes
63,370
Yes it’s gold Doubles Badminton.
 

armortec

Regular Member
Joined
Dec 8, 2021
Messages
182
Likes
868
3/3 golds in baddy. PV and Chirag/Satwik won relatively easy as expected, Lakshya made a bit of a meal of it but was an exciting game. Lakshya and PV don't have great technique but an iron strongmind (Saina too), Srikanth has (the most) beautiful playstyle but not self-confident enough. Chirag/Satwik getting mentally tougher, winning is a habit. End of 2 week holiday for them, real test is World Champs in 2 weeks in Tokyo (and winning more tour events). Hope more players emerge in future.
 

hit&run

United States of Hindu Empire
Mod
Joined
May 29, 2009
Messages
14,104
Likes
63,370
Really good show, beating NZ in tally even after 34% of sports dominated by India were wipped out.

Good under pressure experience gained outside India and a lot of data collected by coaching and technical staff. Hopefully, retention and analysis of data will be done dispassionately.

Hockey need serious shaking, players in almost every game prone to auto pilot mode syndrome (my theory), swimming must be invested heavily and athletics need high altitude training centres and world class infrastructure. Catch them young from schools, picking them up from army or other places is not a good long term strategy.
 

ezsasa

Designated Cynic
Mod
Joined
Jul 12, 2014
Messages
31,711
Likes
146,953
Country flag
Really good show, beating NZ in tally even after 34% of sports dominated by India were wipped out.

Good under pressure experience gained outside India and a lot of data collected by coaching and technical staff. Hopefully, retention and analysis of data will be done dispassionately.

Hockey need serious shaking, players in almost every game prone to auto pilot mode syndrome (my theory), swimming must be invested heavily and athletics need high altitude training centres and world class infrastructure. Catch them young from schools, picking them up from army or other places is not a good long term strategy.
is it a fair observation to say Indian hockey men's team are too dependant on penalties to score goals?
 

hit&run

United States of Hindu Empire
Mod
Joined
May 29, 2009
Messages
14,104
Likes
63,370
is it a fair observation to say Indian hockey men's team are too dependant on penalties to score goals?
We have tried every thing. Opted every model, hired every kind of expert and used every available techniques.

There was a time we were criticised for poor PC conversion rate. Now it is so better that we seems to have become dependent on it.

There is something subterranean going on which we can not see or perceive from the surface. That is why I am taliking about big shake up.

If you ask me I will disband the team and start afresh with young players with cut off age below 20 years.

As far as Australian team is concern then they play similar kind of hockey which NZ also plays. Yesterday all their attacking positions were same like the way junior school teams play.

I call it lazy Hockey or in soccer analogy off side player position which is allowed in hockey. God know how many times we shout off our lungs to guide kids to stand off-side and oposite right and left poles of the opponents goal posts. Looks like they studied us and found certain weakness and then opted opted for this strategy which they have been playing since childhood. Throughout my coaching with my son and other junior teams I struggled to opt between strong dribbling or 3D skills or this off side opportune game. A seminar I attended with Belgium coach as main speaker, who laughed at my question on 3D skills which Indians and Pakistanis love the most. He suggested reaching first that is long passes, quick retrieval and fast running.

The idea behind off-side positioning at the cost of weak midfield and at times weak defence is that the opponent goal keeper never rests and you are never able to crowd their 25 yards line because you keep marking those off-side players, I mean, you can not risk leaving them unattended. From the very start of the game your forwards are spread out and can not play short passes inside attacking circle.

European countries build their games from strong midfield and long passes. Australians and Kiwis strong forwards, strong defence, weak centre and short passes.

Looks like we haven’t profiled Australian team and their range of strategies which they rely on the most.

So what was the antidote of the Australian strategy?

You do not take the bait of their off-side positioning and leave them alone. You keep their 25 yard crowded with your aggressive forward players (a clever substitution and selection is a must) Those off-siders will slowly start coming back to help their under pressure defence. You have been slapped with 5 plus goals every time. It won’t be different this again. Leave it to your minimum defence and sharp goalkeeper you keep crowding their 25 yard line with long passes.

In a nut shell the answer to strong Australian forward is not strong Indian defence but strong Indian forward.
 
Last edited:

Roshan

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 2, 2019
Messages
2,297
Likes
8,090
Country flag
Really good show, beating NZ in tally even after 34% of sports dominated by India were wipped out.

Good under pressure experience gained outside India and a lot of data collected by coaching and technical staff. Hopefully, retention and analysis of data will be done dispassionately.

Hockey need serious shaking, players in almost every game prone to auto pilot mode syndrome (my theory), swimming must be invested heavily and athletics need high altitude training centres and world class infrastructure. Catch them young from schools, picking them up from army or other places is not a good long term strategy.
We seem to have a mental block against Australia. It is not the case with other hockey powerhouses like Belgium, Germany and Netherlands against whom we compete well. Infact the England team we dominated but drew against here too gave Australia a lot of problems. Probably just a bad match up.
Even the women had the chance to beat them in the gold medal cricket match but gave it away.
 

Love Charger

चक्रवर्ती
Senior Member
Joined
Oct 9, 2021
Messages
12,790
Likes
34,386
Country flag
We seem to have a mental block against Australia. It is not the case with other hockey powerhouses like Belgium, Germany and Netherlands against whom we compete well. Infact the England team we dominated but drew against here too gave Australia a lot of problems. Probably just a bad match up.
Even the women had the chance to beat them in the gold medal cricket match but gave it away.
Next time instead of indian jerseys , our players should don a emu costume when facing the penal colony guys .
 

Global Defence

New threads

Articles

Top