The World Opinion

Tag: india vs pakistan hockey

  • Asian Champions Trophy 2023: Harmanpreet Singh stars as India dominate arch opponents Pakistan

    India has a fortunate quantity 13.

    He lifts iron weighing as much as 165kg within the health club. And covers up to 8km at the pitch. He rankings objectives and intercepts passes. Launches booming aerial balls and performs defence-splitting crosses. A unfastened guy who, with impeccable imaginative and prescient, units his teammates unfastened.

    There’s no longer so much Harmanpreet Singh doesn’t do. But, on maximum days, it’s his misses that get mentioned extra. Invariably earlier than each fit and after it, the India captain will get requested about his ‘deficient’ conversion charge from penalty corners. Each and every time, he smiles again: “Bilkul, koshish karte rahenge (After all, I’ll stay making an attempt).”

    The Males in Blue march into the Semi Finals of the Hero Asian Champions Trophy Chennai 2023 undefeated.#HockeyIndia #IndiaKaGame #HACT2023 percent.twitter.com/30JNbIohdb

    — Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) August 9, 2023

    It’s a travesty that Harmanpreet’s contribution is decreased simply to his drag-flicks. The overall staff degree fit of the Asian Champions Trophy towards Pakistan, a 4-0 victory, used to be any other reminder of all that he brings to the desk.

    On an evening when Pakistan regarded threatening in stages with their breezy counter-attacks and fast turnovers, Harmanpreet’s vice-like grip ensured the tale adopted the script in entrance of a packed Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium.

    It very just about went awry as Pakistan’s younger bunch performed with freedom and fearlessness that stuck India off guard. Had they been a bit extra scientific within the attacking 3rd – and no longer been at the receiving finish of what their trainer Muhammad Saqlain known as ‘very deficient’ umpiring calls – issues may have been other.

    Harmanpreet Singh’s mighty pair of objectives lift him because the Hero of the fit, whilst Vivek Sagar Prasad shines as the sport’s remarkable younger ability.

    ?? India 4-0 Pakistan ??#HockeyIndia #IndiaKaGame #HACT2023 #INDvPAK @CMO_Odisha @CMOTamilnadu @asia_hockey @FIH_Hockey… percent.twitter.com/ZNFjgoolCw

    — Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) August 9, 2023

    However Harmanpreet’s two objectives – robust drag-flicks all sides of the goalkeeper – put India heading in the right direction to the facile win over Pakistan to arrange a semifinal conflict with Japan on Friday (the second one semifinal shall be between Malaysia and Korea).

    However as is the case with Harmanpreet, it wasn’t on the subject of the objectives.

    In a group of full of life, extroverted characters, Harmanpreet is the quiet one. And whilst the group is divided between Messi and Ronaldo enthusiasts, he brings each teams in combination and likewise throws Xavi within the combine. For, movies of those 3 avid gamers are stated to be populating his onerous pressure.

    On maximum days on the nationwide camp in Bengaluru, he’ll be gazing outdated movies, no longer of himself, however of those footballers and, every now and then, even basketball avid gamers.

    If no longer sports activities, biopics are on his watchlist. “I check out to be informed so much from the lives of different avid gamers,” he had advised this paper in an previous interview. Again then, he’d simply completed gazing The Redeem Staff. “It used to be so excellent; you get to be informed about their mentality, the way in which they suspect. It’s inspiring.”

    Now that is a super save from @KrishanBPathak

    Are you gazing #INDvPAKonFanCode ❓ percent.twitter.com/KDNpAkFjyF

    — FanCode (@FanCode) August 9, 2023

    He’s, extra incessantly than no longer, the final to go away the learning floor too. After everybody’s long past, Harmanpreet shall be by myself at the pitch with the ball, understanding new angles and imagining passes.

    “I visualise by myself. I take 3-4 balls after which create fit scenarios. If I’ve to play a ball at the run, then what can I do? Or if I merely have to separate the defence… That follow is useful occasionally all through a fit as a result of I don’t waste an additional 2nd pondering.”

    Whole participant

    It’s a glimpse into the thoughts of a participant who’s most commonly identified for his brawn. Harmanpreet’s drag-flicks, which fly at speeds of as much as 150kmph, are the stuff of legend – he’s these days the top-scorer of the match – however his different refined contributions with utmost nonchalance are similarly breathtaking.

    Like the instant in the second one half of towards Pakistan on Wednesday. Harmanpreet gained a unfastened hit in a reputedly innocuous place close to the half-line. Even because the Pakistani avid gamers have been entering their positions, Harmanpreet noticed an opening of their defence and with lazy class, slapped the ball from the half-line into their ‘D’. Akashdeep Singh were given a marginally to it however no longer sufficient to deflect the ball into the function.

    It’s in defence, even though, the place Harmanpreet’s interventions are decisive.

    Probably the most very best drag sparkles on this planet for a explanation why!@13harmanpreet#INDvPAKonFanCode #HACT2023 percent.twitter.com/voryv6qSF5

    — FanCode (@FanCode) August 9, 2023

    When Pakistan started sharply, getting into India’s ‘D’ within the first minute and scoring a function, his determination to problem the decision ended in the strike being overturned. When their attackers attempted to get in the back of the defence, he remained a step forward, learn the strikes and evenly intercepted their passes.

    This used to be the fad even on the International Cup previous this 12 months, the place he used to be panned for no longer changing the dozen or so penalty corners that got here India’s means.

    Harmanpreet performs as a unfastened guy, who is largely a defensive problem-solver; a participant who operates within the house between defence and midfield, preventing the ball from getting into the circle.

    “My accountability is to dam the hotline (the direct line between the attacker and the function),” Harmanpreet stated. “I’ve to be in contact with the midfielders and forwards. If their guy is in a selected place, I’ve to inform them to thoughts their guy.”

    One for the historical past books?
    Reliving the unforgettable India vs. Pakistan epic showdown via compelling visuals ?

    ?? India 3-0 Pakistan ??#HockeyIndia #IndiaKaGame #HACT2023 #IndvsPak@CMO_Odisha @CMOTamilnadu @asia_hockey @FIH_Hockey @IndiaSports @Media_SAI @sports_odisha percent.twitter.com/KOVx59Vo3h

    — Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) August 9, 2023

    Speaking with teammates, blocking off passing channels, launching assaults, difficult the umpires’ calls and taking drag-flicks. If he’s overburdened, Harmanpreet isn’t appearing it.

    “In case you are informal at the box, then you definately get lazy; that spark is lacking. Your thoughts is sharp, accountability hai, conversation hai; you might be repeatedly analysing the sport even if at the box,” he stated. “I revel in most of these duties.”

    The accountability will best build up as India mount a problem to reclaim the Asian Video games gold. They usually’ll depend on their fortunate quantity 13.

  • Within the threat zone of the drag-flick: Tirkey, Rasquinha recall fractures, shut calls, Pakistan’s Sohail Abbas’s pace

    Dilip Tirkey is scarred for lifestyles. Actually.

    Eighteen years in the past, in October 2004 at Delhi’s Nationwide Stadium, Tirkey used to be manning the appropriate goalpost when Pakistan legend Sohail Abbas unleashed his trademark ferocious drag-flick. At the left publish used to be Viren Rasquinha. And so they each watched in dread as goalkeeper Adrian D’Souza, in his inimitable taste, charged out to dam Abbas’ shot.

    For Rasquinha and Tirkey, D’Souza’s runs made the sighting the ball that a lot harder. “If he wouldn’t have the ability to forestall the ball, it will come via his legs or underneath his fingers. And Sohail had a sling motion, so that you couldn’t pass judgement on the place the ball used to be going,” Rasquinha says.

    “In that fit in opposition to Pakistan, we had deliberate that Dilip would take the appropriate publish down and I’d take the left. Sohail flicked, Adrian rushed out, the ball it deflected quite off him and deviated from its trail.”

    Tirkey, now not a person of many phrases, will get within the float whilst narrating what came about subsequent. “I wasn’t ready to identify the ball. When Adrian rushed out, I simply became slightly and prior to I may just even react additional, the ball hit my eye. Ekdum sunn hogaya thode 2nd okay liye and phir, gir gaya (I went numb for a couple of seconds after which, fell to the bottom). I couldn’t open my proper eye.”

    Tirkey suffered a hairline fracture just below his proper eye. He says he’s trembling even now, whilst recalling the incident that came about just about twenty years in the past. “The mark remains to be there and it pains even nowadays, particularly all through winters,” he says.

    The prospective threat of the hockey ball flying at top speeds following a drag-flick and the way forward for the penalty nook, an integral a part of the game, is up for dialogue and assessment after the Global Hockey Federation introduced a session undertaking titled: ‘Long term of the Penalty Nook’.

    Long term of the Penalty Nook – International session undertaking

    We invite you to fill in a brief on-line questionnaire to seize evaluations at the present penalty nook regulations, in addition to concepts for the long run.

    Observe the hyperlink to take part: https://t.co/UpjKoOG4cZ percent.twitter.com/RYnyXBoKwF

    — Global Hockey Federation (@FIH_Hockey) Would possibly 6, 2022

    The chance all through drag-flicks is extra pronounced for defenders, particularly the primary rushers, the participant who runs in opposition to the glint to chop his attitude, and the postmen, the ones guarding the posts, like Rasquinha and Tirkey.

    When the 2 of them performed, the defenders didn’t put on a large number of protecting equipment. Like Gavaskar dealing with the fearsome West Indian pacers with not anything else however just a floppy hat, the defenders again then depended in large part on their reflexes, and slightly success.

    “I gained’t lie, we was very scared. Ball zoo-zoo karke jaata hai,” Tirkey says. Rasquinha, who shared that concern, provides: “We stood with none coverage in any respect, apart from the stomach guard. Maximum people didn’t even put on gum guards so my colossal concern used to be that the ball would hit me bang on my tooth and I’d lose they all. If used to be a real concern.”

    Through the years, the principles have modified and defenders are given 40 seconds to put on all their protecting equipment – face mask, gloves, knee pads, and such. It has lowered the severity of accidents in some circumstances and proponents of drag flicks say the developments in generation will have to be used to make penalty corners more secure, moderately than converting the principles.

    “For me, it’s like F1 racing,” says Gonzalo Peillat, whose drag flicks introduced Argentina to the highest of the rostrum within the Rio Olympics. Peillat, who now represents Germany in global hockey and is without doubt one of the best recent drag-flickers, isn’t happy with FIH’s transfer, announcing that penalty corners aren’t any much less unhealthy in comparison to different eventualities from open play.

    “I don’t assume it’s (the PC assessment) a good suggestion. In F1, there are much less and not more accidents on account of the generation. We will have the similar even in hockey. We use a large number of apparatus that protects the entirety, from the face to the foot. Within the ultimate two Olympics, there wasn’t even one harm via penalty corners,” Peillat says.

    That doesn’t essentially imply they’re totally protected.

    On the Tokyo Olympics, India defender Amit Rohidas, regarded as to be probably the most best first rushers within the nation, suffered bruises on his chest, stomach, knee and ankle in only one fit – in opposition to Germany within the bronze medal playoff. What Rohidas does is dubbed in hockey as ‘suicide working’ – charging immediately in opposition to the glint, to prevent the shot although it approach struggling a blow.

    The FIH has argued that the protecting equipment has given the defenders a false sense of safety, which results in them working directly into the trail of the ball with out considering of the effects. Rasquinha is of the same opinion. “The velocity at which the ball travels, no face masks will offer protection to you should you get hit immediately,” he says.

    Rasquinha’s thoughts harks again to the early wintry weather stumble upon in opposition to Pakistan in 2004. After the fit in Delhi, the place Tirkey were given injured, the caravan moved to Chandigarh and from there, to Amritsar the place Abbas scored his international report 268th purpose.

    Rasquinha recalls the purpose now not only for the report, but additionally as it just about took his head off. “I used to be guarding the left purpose publish. And once more, Adrian charged out. This time, the ball got here from underneath his armpit. I may just now not see it till the ultimate 2nd once I spotted that it used to be headed directly for the center of my eyes. I simply ducked on the ultimate break up 2nd and because the ball went over my head, I may just really feel the breeze…” he says.

    The shot used to be so rapid, the previous India captain provides, that the ball tore throughout the web and hit the commercial forums. “The referee idea it went over the purpose and signalled out. However the entire Pakistani gamers and I knew it went into the purpose.” Rasquinha pauses momentarily to replicate. Then provides: “I had no face masks, no gum guard… I will have died that day.”