Hockey News

At Junior Hockey World Cup 2016, Lucknow, India

Coutesy to Akashwani

Championship Match
India bt Belgium 2-1 (2-0)
Goal Scorers - Gurjant Singh (IND) 8', Simranjeet Singh (IND) 22' and Fabrice Van Bockrijck (BEL) 70' PC

INDIAN BOYS ARE JUNIOR WORLD CHAMPIONS!!

Our boys gave a stunning performance for lifting our 2nd Junior World Championships trophy ... We deserved to lift the trophy after a superb performance in the final ... After 15 yrs we managed to lift the second title and with this, we become first host nation to lift Junior World Championship.

Our boys started putting pressure on Belgian side from that start and earned a couple of penalty corners but failed to capitalized ... India took lead through MoM of the final, Gurjant smashed through a reverse hit over the right shoulder of the Belgian goalkeeper, that was amazing hit ... Indian kept putting pressure and in 22nd minute Simranjeet's reverse hit went low from the right of Belgian goalkeeper to give 2-0 lead ... After that, Belgium tried hard but our defense managed to keep the 2-0 advantage at half-time ... The second half was well contested as Belgian players were trying but our boys also gave a splendid performance ... We missed few chances but our player's intensity was very high ... In dying moments we conceded penalty corner and Belgium converted but it was too late.

Hockey News

At Junior Hockey World Cup 2016, Lucknow, India

Semi Finals
India bt Australia 2-2 (0-1) 4-2 shoot-out
Goal Scorers - Gurjant Singh (IND) 42' and Mandeep Singh (IND) 48' and Tom Craig (AUS) 14', Lachlan Sharp (AUS) 57'

Indian boys came from a goal down to pip Australia 4-2 via shootout in a thrilling contest and enter the final of the men's Junior Hockey World Cup after 15 years ... In the final Indian boys r facing Belgium.

Indians were down early as Tom Craig scored in first 15 mins and Aussie boys kept that lead till half-time ... In the second-half, our boys started positively ... We scored two skillful field goals through Gurjant Singh and Mandeep Singh in six minutes ... But we conceded a soft goal due to miscommunication between our defense to equalize ... So the score was 2-all at the end of regulation time ... In the shoot-out, goalkeeper Vikas Dahiya rose to the occasion and made two fantastic saves to deny Australia's Matthew Bird and Sharp ... On the other hand the Indians, were clinical in the shoot-out with skipper Harjeet Singh, Harmanpreet Singh, Sumit and Manpreet (Jr) finding the back of the net past the Australian custodian.

Hockey News

At Junior Hockey World Cup 2016, Lucknow, India

Quarter Finals
India bt Spain 2-1 (0-1)
Goal Scorers - Simranjeet Singh (IND) 57' PC, Harmanpreet Singh (IND) 66' PC and Marc Serrahima (ESP) 22' PC

India were lucky for completing this win as they struggled against solid Spanish defence ... Spain took early lead through penalty corner and other hand our struggled on converting PC continued in this match ... From the start I m saying, this poor PC conversion rate can cost us in big matches, till now we managed to convert only 5 from 26 PCs ... Next we r facing Aussie boys for place in the final.

Hockey News

At At Junior Hockey World Cup 2016, Lucknow, India

Group D
India bt South Africa 2-1 (1-1)
Goal Scorers - Harjeet Singh (IND) 11', Mandeep Singh (IND) 55' and Kyle Lion-Cachet (RSA) 28' PC

In this match also .our struggle on penalty corner conversion and in trapping continued ... I really hope this will not cost us in knock-out ... We r facing Spain in the quarter-finals.

Our captain Harjeet gave us early lead but we failed to take advatage of extending lead despite so many circle pentrations and couple of penalty corners ... South African eqalized in the late of second half through penalty corner conversion ... In the second half, again our players missed many chances before Mandeep scored to give us alead ... We defnded last 15 mins for completing win and winning this Group D

Hockey News

At Junior Hockey World Cup 2016, Lucknow, India

Group D
India bt England 5-3 (2-1)
Goal Scorers - Parvinder Singh (IND) 24', Armaan Qureshi (IND) 35', Harmanpreet Singh (IND) 37' PC, Simranjeet Singh (IND) 47', Varun Kumar (IND) 59' PC and Jack Clee (ENG) 10', Will Calnan (ENG) 63', Edward Horler (ENG) 67' PC

British boys took early lead through brilliant chip from Clee over the goalkeeper ... After that Our boys kept trying and equalized through Parvinder's field goal ... Before stroke of half-time Armaan scored opportunist goal to give us lead ... Harmanpreet gave us 2 goals cushion after converting 4th penalty corner in early of the second half ... Our boys kept playing attacking game and they scored another to extend lead through Simranjeet ... Before hour mark Varun converted another penalty corner for inasseccible lead to us ... Again a lapse of concentration in the final ten minutes as England scored two goals to reduce the lead .. We need to avoid this in big matches.

Hockey News

At Junior Hockey World Cup 2016, Lucknow, India

Pool D
India bt Canada 4-0 (1-0)
Goal Scorers - Mandeep Singh (IND) 35', Harmanpreet Singh (IND) 46' PC, Varun Kumar (IND) 60', Ajit Pandey (IND) 66'

India started their campaign with a win over Canadian boys ... This match we had to win by at least 10 goals but our forward line struggled in-front of the goal ... We missed numerous chances and waited till last minute of the first half for scoring first goal ... Other worrying part lack of penalty corner specialist as we managed to score only one goal from seven penalty corners ... Our goalkeeper and defenders didn't tested in this match but I feel we need to show improvement by leaps and bounds for winning the World cup.

Hockey News

At 4th Women's Asian Champions Trophy 2016, Singapore

Courtesy of Stick2Hockey

Championship Match
India bt China 2-1 (1-0)
Goal Scorers - Deep Grace Ekka (IND) 13' PC, Deepika Thakur (IND) 60' PC and Zhong Mengling (CHN) 44'

Indian women becomes first time winner of Asian Champions Trophy beating China in the final ... Though here China were with u-21 and , Korea and Japan teams with lot of newbies in their squad but still creditable performance by our women ... Indian women started positively and were attacking ... They converted penalty corner for leading 1-0 after first quarter and kept that lead till half-time ... We conceded in last minute of third quarter due to defensive lapse by defender and goalie ... Deepika scored on penalty corner with 17 secs to go, China protested but referee stood up to their decision ... Indians were matching young Chinese team on the turf and created ore chances for them ... So deserving winner as per performance on the turf.

Before this in Pool, Indian women held Japanese women 2-all, defeated Malaysian women 2-0 and also scored one impressive win over Korean women 2-0 ... In their last pool match they lost against Chinese women accepting goal in last minute, 2-3.

Hockey News

At 4th Asian Champions Trophy 2016, Kuantan, Malaysia

Courtesy Arena Hockey Malaysia

Championship Match
India bt Pakistan 3-2 (2-1)
Goal Scorers - Rupinder Pal Singh (IND) 18' PC, Yousuf Affan (IND) 23', Nikkin Thimmaiah (IND) 51' and Aleem Bilal (PAK) 26' PC, Ali Shan (PAK) 38'

India wins second time Asian Champions trophy beating Pakistan ... Before this we won the title in 2011 and with win also cemented our place as top Asian team ... Rupinder Pal Singh became top scorer of the tournament with 11 goals ... He also receive Best Player of the Tournament award ... Sardar Singh received Best Player of the Final award.

Both teams played really entertaining attacking hockey ... Earlier we were better team on the field but out forward line failed to show on scoreboard those many circle penetration ... Rupinder scored on 2nd penalty corner in 18th minute and within 5 minutes Affan scored on tap in on excellent move by Sardar and Ramandeep ... After that Pakistan made superb comeback ... They putted Indian defenders under pressure and converted penalty corner through Bilal ... After half-time they kept attacking and scored field goal through Ali Shan for equalized ... In the fourth quarter we started to pick our game and one of those excellent move Akashdeep passes towards Nikkin, who scored powerful hit from top of the goal to give winning lead to India.

Hockey News

At 4th Asian Champions Trophy 2016, Kuantan, Malaysia

India bt Korea 2-2 (1-1) 5-4 Shoot-out
Goal Scorers - Talwinder Singh (IND) 14', Ramandeep Singh (IND) 55' and Seo Inwoo (KOR) 21', Yang Jihun (KOR) 53' (PS)

India in the Kuantan Asian Champions Trophy Final, beating Korea in the shoot out 5-4 after full time score were remained 2-2 ... Captain and goalkeeper PR Sreejesh made a brilliant save in the fifth attempt against Daeyeol Lee in the shootout for a win ... This is well fought match but again we were defending poorly ... Rupinder failed to score on all four penalty corners ... Koreans were better team on the field but difference was always dependable Sreejesh ... Multiple saves by Sreejesh so that helped us for a win ... In the final we r facing Pakistan, who defeated Malaysia in shootout 3-2.

Hockey News

At 4th Asian Champions Trophy 2016, Kuantan, Malaysia

India bt Malaysia 2-1 (11)
Goal Scorers - Rupinder Pal Singh (IND) 12' PC and 58' PC and Razie Rahim (MAS) 18' PC

We were lucky for winning this match as Malaysian were looking better than us ... Again we failed in defending, mid-field and forwardline .. Our passing, trapping, crossing, defending and intercepting were poor ... Only bright spot for us was reserve goalkeeper Akash Chikte, who made some acrobatic saves ... Rupinder was poor in defending and passing but converted 2 penalty corners from four for a win..

Hockey News

At 4th Asian Champions Trophy 2016, Kuantan, Malaysia

India bt China 9-0 (4-0)
Goal Scorers - Akashdeep Singh (IND) 9' and 39', Yousuf Affan (IND) 18' and 41', Jasjit Singh Kumar (IND) 22' and 51', Rupinder Pal Singh (IND) 25' PC, Nikkin Thimmaiah (IND) 34', Lalit Upadhyay (IND) 35'

India outclassed China 9-0 in the round-robin league competition of the fourth Asian Champions Trophy hockey tournament ... In this match we performed better than our previous match ... Still some stupid defending inside D and our forwardline against failed to create more penalty corners, only 2 ... Need same intensity by our players in remaining matches for lift the trophy.

Hockey News

At 4th Asian Champions Trophy 2016, Kuantan, Malaysia

India bt Pakistan 3-2 (1-0)
Goal Scorers - Pradeep Mor (IND) 22' Rupinderpal Singh (IND) 43' PC, Ramandeep Singh (IND) 44' and Mhmd. Rizwan Sr. (PAK) 31', Mumd. Irfan Jr. (PAK) 39'

Overall disappointing performance by us on the field ... Again we were struggling on the final touch, in defense and marking ... Pradeep gave us a lead in 2nd quarter but immediately after half-time Pakistan equalized when our players were failed to mark Rizwan ... Pakistan kept attacking and they converted on another poor defending by Indians when Irfan scored from close range ... Indians responded scoring back to back goals in a minute after 5 minutes ... Rupinder scored through penalty corner hitting powerful shot top left corner of the goal ... After that Ramdeep deflected on excellent pass from Talwinder Singh to gave lead ... In 4th quarter both teams tried but failed to score.

Hockey News

At 4th Asian Champions Trophy 2016, Kuantan, Malaysia

India dw Korea 1-1 (0-1)
Goal Scorers - Lalit Upadhyay (IND) 33' and Junwoo Jeong (KOR) 10'

Didn't played well at all today ... In this match too many silly errors all over the pitch by our players ... Despite so many curcle penetration we failed to convert, so considering this we were lucky for managing draw.

Hockey News

At 4th Asian Champions Trophy 2016, Malaysia

India bt Japan 10-2 (7-1)
Goal Scorers - Ramandeep Singh (IND) 2' and 15', Rupinderpal Singh (IND) 9' PC, 12' PC, 17' PC, 22' PC, 46' PC and 47' PC, Talwinder Singh (IND) 19', Affan Yousuf (IND) 50' and Kenta Tanaka (JPN) 23', Hiromasa Ochai (JPN) 38'

Expected dominating win by Indians against inexperienced Japanese side ... Rupinderpal captained side and responded with six goals ... But after scoring 7 goals before half-time our team failed to capitalized in the second ... Moreover our defense was also little lethargic as we conceded couple of goals.

Hockey News

At America tour 2016, Manheim, Pennsylvania, USA

Fourth Game
India bt Canada 3-1 (1-1)
Goal Scorers - Poonam Rani (IND) 19' PC, Renuka Yadav (IND) 32' PC, Anuradha Thokchom (IND) 58' and Natalie Sourisseau (CAN) 22'

Indian girls continue with their good performance and scored second win over Canadian girls in American tour.

Hockey News

At America tour 2016, Manheim, Pennsylvania, USA

Third Game
India bt Canada 5-2 (1-1)
Goal Scorers - Vandana Katariya (IND) 9' and 51', Deepika (IND) 38' and 49', Poonam Rani (IND) 58' PC and Stephanie Norlander (CAN) 17' PC, Brienne Stairs (CAN) 42'

Indian girls scored impressive win against Canadian girls to score their second consecutive win of the tour ... In the first 3 quarters both teams matched each other but in the last quarter our girls pressed pedal hard and scored three goals.

Hockey News

At America tour 2016, Manheim, Pennsylvania, USA

Second Game
India bt USA 2-1 (0-1)
Goal Scorers - Preeti Dubey (IND) 45' PC, Lilima Minz (IND) 55' PC and Jill Witmer (USA) 19' PC

First Game
India l USA 2-3 (0-1)
Goal Scorers - Preeti Dubey (IND) 33', Deepika (IND) 38' and Kathleen Sharkey (USA) 6', Katie Bam (USA) 31' PC, Kelsey Kolojejchick (USA) 48'

Indian girls bounced back in the second game and defeated Champions trophy bronze medalist USA in tight match ... In the first match our girls lost very close match and in the second match also both teams were neck to neck ... In this match also USA took lead and were leading at half-time ... But this time our players converted two crucial penalty corners and then defended well for completing victory ... In tour's next match we r playing against Canadian girls.

Hockey News

Triple Olympian and Moscow Olympic gold medalist Mohd Shahid, 56, has passed away at a Gurgaon hospital ... He was undergoing treatment for multiple defects ... RIP Mohd. Shahid.

Olympics News

At Rio Olympics 2016, Brazil

Men’s squad
PR Sreejesh (captain and GK), Harmanpreet Singh (defender), Rupinder Pal Singh (defender), Kothajit Singh (defender), Surendar Kumar (defender), VR Raghunath (defender), SK Uthappa (midfielder), Danish Mujtaba (midfielder), Devender Walmiki (midfielder), Manpreet Singh (midfielder), Sardar Singh (midfielder), Chinglensana Singh (midfielder), SV Sunil (forward and vice-captain), Akashdeep Singh (forward), Ramandeep Singh (forward), Nikkin Thimmaiah (forward)
On standby - Pardeep Mor, Vikas Dahiya

Women’s squad
Savita (GK), Deep Grace Ekka (defender), Sunita Lakra (defender), Sushila Chanu (captain and defender), Deepika (vice-captain and defender), Namita Toppo (defender), Navjot Kaur (midfielder), Renuka Yadav (midfielder), Monika (midfielder), Rani Rampal (forward), Preeti Dubey (forward), Lilima Minz (midfielder), Nikki Pradhan (forward), Anuradha Devi (forward), Poonam Rani (forward), Vandana Kataria (forward),
On standby - Rajani Etimarpu & H. Lalruat Feli

India’s 16-member squads for Men and Women for Rio Olympics was announced.

In women's India’s forward line will be held by Rani Rampal with Deepika named vice-captain ... Sushila Chanu will captain the team in the absence of Ritu Rani.

In the men’s side, PR Sreejesh will be in goal and will lead the side with SV Sunil the vice captain ... Sardar Singh has released from the role of captain

Hockey News

At Valancia Six Nation Cup 2016, Spain

India dw Spain 1-1 (1-1)
Goal Scorers - VR Raghunath (IND) 20' PC and Pau Quemada (ESP) 11' PS

Again unimpressive performance by Indians against host Spain ... Match ended on an equal term but our struggle in front of the goal continues ... Frankly speaking this is really not an ideal performance by our team ... In all matches we awarded many penalty corners and in this match we awarded five penalty corners but managed to score off one; so the team’s problems with conversion continue ... I am really hoping this would not be an issue ahead of Rio Olympics.