Hockey News
At Asian Champions Trophy 2012, Doha, Qatar

Final
India l Pakistan 4-5 (2-1)
Goal Scorers - Goal Scorers - SV Sunil (IND) 9', VR Raghunath (IND) 21' PC, Gurvinder Singh Chandi (IND) 55', Rupinderpal Singh (IND) 59' PC and Muhammad Waqas (PAK) 7' PC and 57', Shafqat Rasool (PAK) 42', Mohammad Imran (PAK) 48' PC and 63' PC

Pakistan started with attacking hockey from the start ... We were matching them but Pakistani players were attacking more ... In 7th minute Raghu conceded penalty corner and Waqas converted for Pakistan scoring his 10th goal of the tournament ... In 2 minutes we equalized through field goal from Sunil ... Sunil missed easy chance in front of the goal and Pakistanis also making mess inside our circle ... Indians earned their first penalty corner in 20th minute when ball rises dangerously inside the circle ... Raghu scored from it scoring his 8th goal of the tournament ... Indians earned their second penalty corner just before hooter but this time Pakistanis saved it ... In the second half Pakistan equalized through Rasool in 42nd minute ... Pakistan earned their 2nd penalty corner through their continuous attack and Mohammad Imran converted to gave lead to them ... After that Indians equalized through Chandi in 55th minute ... Pakistan responded within 2 minutes with goal from Waqas, his 11th goal of the tournament ... Indians earned penalty corner in next minute and Rupinderpal converted it ... In 2 minutes Indians earned another penalty corner but this time Rupinderpal missed but after that Pakistan earned another penalty corner and again Mohammad Imran gave lead to Pakistan ... When 3 minutes remaining Indians left the field protesting against Korean umpire who refused to give penalty corner, I think that was unsporting behavior from Indians ... After few minutes match resumed and Pakistan managed to hold lead till the end ... Pakistan was deserving winner of Asian Champions Trophy after this entertaining match.

Hockey News
At Asian Champions Trophy 2012, Doha, Qatar

India l Malaysia 3-5 (0-3)
Goal Scorers - Goal Scorers - Birendra Lakra (IND) 47' PC, SV Sunil (IND) 62', VR Raghunath (IND) 63' PC and Mohd. Fitri Saari (MAS) 18' and 27', Azlan Misron (MAS) 20' PC, Faizal Saari (MAS) 38', ? (MAS) 68'

Lethargic performance by our team against spirited Malaysians ... From start Malaysians were attacking and scored 3 goals in 10 minutes to lead 3-0 at half-time ... They scored 4th goal in first 3 minutes of the second half ... Indians converted 3rd penalty corner through Lakra ... After that we were pushing hard but usual problem of wayward shooting inside the circle were costing us ... We scored 2 goals in two minutes to reduced margin to 3-4 when 7 minutes remaining ... But again sloppy defending cost us 5th goal when 2 minutes were remaining.

In the final we r facing Pakistan who defeated Japan 5-2 in other match.

Hockey News
At Asian Champions Trophy 2012, Doha, Qatar

India bt Pakistan 2-1 (0-0)
Goal Scorers - Goal Scorers -Rupinderpal Singh (IND) 36' PS, Chinglensana Kangujam (IND) 49' and Muhammad Waqas (PAK) 57' PC

This was typical physical game between India and Pakistan but with win we qualified for the final ... Indians were lucky in this game as Pakistan was better team on the field.

Pakistan dominated the first half as we were under continuous attack from them ... Late in the second hald we received penalty corner but on poor penalty corner (regular) drill we missed the chance ... But in the 1st minute of the second half we got penalty stroke and Rupinderpal Singh converted it ... In 39 minutes Pakistan received their first penalty corner as Raghu fouled inside the circle but he blocked Muhammad Waqas's hit ... Pakistan missed another penalty corner and then Abbasi missed a sitter from front of the goal ... Indians take advantage of missed chances of Pakistan and scored field goal through Chinglensana ... After that Pakistan kept pressing and earned 3rd penalty corner ... This time they scored through Waqas despite Indian protest ... Raghu got yellow card in 61st minute ... Rupinderpal missed ball in 3rd penalty corner when ball was stopped by stopper ... Chandi earned another penalty corner for India in 68th minute ... Indians earned another penalty corner when Pakistani defender raised a stick inside the circle while defending penalty corner ... Rupinderpal's flick deflected from cross-bar ... Pakistan earned their 4th penalty corner in dying moments but this time Rupinderpal cleared the ball ... In the end Pakistan was attacking but we survived due to excellent goal-keeping by Sreejesh ... He saved numerous Pakistani attacks single-handedly.

Hockey News
At Asian Champions Trophy 2012, Doha, Qatar

India bt Oman 11-0 (4-0)
Goal Scorers - SV Sunil (IND) 3' and 44', Dharamvir Singh (IND) 8' and 56', VR Raghunath (IND) 30' PC and 38' PC, Rupinderpal Singh (IND) 33' PC and 43' PC, Akashdeep Singh (IND) 53' PC, Harbir Singh (IND) 65' PC, Danish Mujtaba (IND) 67'

As expected very dominating win by Indians over Omanis ... In this match we converted 6 penalty corners from 10 penalty corners we earned ... We were 2-0 up before first 10 minutes and half-time we were 4-0 up ... We scored 7 more goals in the second half and in that 4 goals were from penalty corners ... Raghu and Rupinder scored a brace from penalty corners ... Sunil and Danish scored a brace (field goals).

Hockey News
At Asian Champions Trophy 2012, Doha, Qatar

India bt Japan 3-1 (1-0)
Goal Scorers - VR Raghunath (IND) 22' PC and 59' PC, Gurvinder Singh Chandi (IND) 51' and Koji Kayukawa (JPN) 50' PS

Japan exposed Indian defense in this match ... We were dis-oriented in this match and Japan tried hard to take advantage ... Japan wasted 2 penalty corners but Raghu scored for Indians on first penalty corner ... We had poor last 5 minutes of the first half where Japanese were attacking and we were struggling to enter in Japanese half ... In the second half we played more physical game and our players received cards for that ... Japan equalised through penalty stroke in 50th minute ... On next minute Chandi scored through field goal to gave lead ... Raghu continued with his good form and scored his 4th goal of the tournament converting 3rd penalty corner.

Hockey News
At Asian Champions Trophy 2012, Doha, Qatar

India bt China 4-0 (2-0)
Goal Scorers - SV Sunil (IND) 13' VR Raghunath (IND) 17' PC and 52' PC, Own goal 53'

Comfortable winning start for Indians against Chinese team ... We scored 2 goals each in both half and in that Raghu scored twice through penalty corners.

Hockey News
At 34th Men's Champions Trophy 2012, Melbourne, Australia

Bronze Medal
India l Pakistan 2-3 (1-1)
Goal Scorers - VR Raghunath (IND) 7' PC, Rupinder Pal Singh (IND) 70+' PC and Muhammad Rizwan Sr. (PAK) 21', Shafqat Rasool (PAK) 41', Muhammad Ateeq (PAK) 67' PC

Gold Medal
Australia bt Holland 2-1 (1-1) AET

Indians failed to rise at occasion and lost against Pakistan after taking early lead ... Pakistan played excellent attacking hockey ... They penetrated Indian circle numerous times earning too many penalty corners ... Other hand Imran Shah was excellent under Pakistan goal, who stopped many Indian attacks ... Still encouraging performance by Indian team which was playing in Champions trophy after 2004 ... Australians lifted 5th title in row after beating Netherlands when Kieran Govers scored winner in 5th minute of extra-time

Indians take early lead through Raghunath when he converted penalty corner ... After that both teams were attacking but Pakistan's attack was having more sting ... Muhammad Rizwan Sr. equalized through bullet shot from top of the D ... In the second half Pakistan started with mission and scored another field goal through Shafqat Rasool to take lead ... Pakistan kept pushing and earned few penalty corners but failed to convert ... Shah was handling Indian attack easily ... In 67th minute Ateeq scored through penalty corner and guaranteed Bronze for Pakistan ... Indians earned 2 penalty corners in next couple of minutes ... Rupinder Pal Singh reduced the margin after scoring on last penalty corner after hooter.

Hockey News
At 34th Men's Champions Trophy 2012, Melbourne, Australia

Semi Finals
India l Australia 0-3(0-2)
Goal Scorers - Jamie Dwyer (AUS) 6' PC and 18' PS, Kieran Govers (AUS) 44'

Netherlands bt Pakistan 5-2

Australians dominated the Indians with a speedy, relentless attack for comfortable victory ... Frankly they didn't give any chance to Indians for applying their match tactics ... Tomorrow Indians will face Pakistan in Bronze medal match.

From first minute Australians were attacking ... They earned penalty corner which they failed to convert but on 2nd penalty corner on rebound Jamie Dwyer scored from front of the goal ... Indians were making fouls under pressure and Jamie earned stroke when Indian defender fouled in front of the goal ... Jamie coolly converted penalty stroke ... In the second half Govers extended lead after 10 minutes ... Indians were lucky that Australians didn't score goals.

Hockey News
At 34th Men's Champions Trophy 2012, Melbourne, Australia

Quarter Finals
India bt Belgium 1-0 (1-0)
Goal Scorers - Nithin Thimmaiah (IND) 12'

Pakistan bt Germany 2-1 (0-1)
Netherlands bt New Zealand (1-0)
Australia bt England 2-0 (1-0)

After missing last 6 editions of Champions trophy due to poor performance Indians were lucky to get wild-card for this edition ... They r taking full advantage of it and after topping Pool A they scored hard fought victory over Belgium in the quarter-final ... In the semi-final they r facing host and WR #2 Australia ... In the other quarter-final Pakistan upset WR #1 and current Olympics gold medalist Germany in comeback victory.

Sardar Singh gave excellent present to himself for his 150th match for India when he gave excellent pass to Nithin, who had easy tap in ... After this early goal our team was attacking but Belgian side regrouped in the late of the half ... Had two penalty corners but failed to covert due to excellent goalkeeping from 34 yrs old Rao ... In the second half Indians had early momentum but after that Belgians tried hard to equalize ... Belgians had few penalty corners and Indians also had opportunities to increase lead through excellent counter-attacking but both teams failed to convert it ... In end Indians managed to hold this single goal advantage for a much needed win.

Hockey News
At 34th Men's Champions Trophy 2012, Melbourne, Australia

Pool A
India l Germany 2-3 (1-1)
Goal Scorers - Gurwinder Singh Chandi (IND) 5', Nithin Thimmaiah (IND) 40' PC and Oliver Korn (GER) 13', Tobias Matania (GER) 56' and 58' PC

England dw New Zealand 1-1 (1-0)

Quarter Finals - 6th December 2012

Germany vs Pakistan
Netherlands vs New Zealand
India vs Belgium
Australia vs England

Despite losing against German side Indians finished top of the Pool A with better goal difference ... In the quarter-final they r facing Belgium.

Indians take early lead through Chandi but Germans equalized within 10 minutes ... In the second half again Indians take lead through Nithin when he scored on rebound on penalty corner ... In this match we did some silly passes and usual poor trapping ... Germans take advatage of it and scored 2 goals in 3 minutes in the late of second half ... After that we tried to equalized but Germans defended well for the victory.

Hockey News
At 34th Men's Champions Trophy 2012, Melbourne, Australia

Pool A
India bt New Zeland 4-2 (3-1)
Goal Scorers - Akashdeep Singh (IND) 10', Gurwinder Singh Chani (IND) 14', Raghunath VR (IND) 25' PC, Danish Mujtaba (IND) 65'and Own Goal (IND) 2', Nicholas Wilson (NZL) 37'

England bt Germany 4-1 (0-0)

Indians showed their last win over England wasn't fluke scoring another good win over higher ranked WR #6 All Black sticks ... With this win Indians r leading Pool A winning both matches ... Our crucial last match is against Germany on Tuesday for better quarterfinal placement..

Indians were down early with own goal but we fought back scoring 2 excellent field goals in 4 minutes to take lead ... We increased lead when Raghunath converted penalty corner on deflection ... In the second half within 2 minuted New Zeland scored through penalty corner to reduced the lead ... Despite controlling this half Indians failed to increase lead until Dinesh deflected inside the circle for our 4th goal.

Young British side upset mighty Germans in the second match after losing the first match against Indians ... With this upset result this pool is wide open.

Hockey News
At 34th Men's Champions Trophy 2012, Melbourne, Australia

Pool A
India bt England 3-1 (1-1)
Goal Scorers - Danish Mujtaba (IND) 22', Yuvraj Walmiki (IND) 38', Gurwinder Singh Chandi (IND) 66' PC and Richard Smith (ENG) 15' PC

Germany bt New Zeland 3-2

WR #11 India started with upset win over WR #4 England in Men's Champions Trophy ... Indians scored couple of acrobatic goals and one indirect penalty corner conversion.

England take early lead after converting 1st penalty corner through Richard Smith ... After that British goalkeeper Pinner made excellent save on Indian penalty corner ... Danish Mujtaba scored excellent acrobatic goal to equalized ... In the second half rain started and Indians were looking better team ... Yuvraj Walmiki scored amazing acrobatic goal and gave lead to India ... England wasted 3 penalty corners but Indians converted their 3rd penalty corner ... Indians take indirect penalty corner and on Sardar Singh's hit Gurwinder Singh Chandi tapped from front of the goal to secure victory.

Overall better play but still some worrying signs like; our clearance from the D weren't good enough, many times our players kept dribbling inside own's D, our traps were error-prone but we were lucky as our players made less errors ... Tomorrow's match against New Zealand is important for semi-final qualification after this excellent start.

Hockey News
At 2nd Sultan of Johar Cup, Malaysia

Final
India l Germany 2-3
Goal Scorers - Satbir Singh (IND) 24', Akashdeep Singh (IND) 67' and Jonas Gomoll (GER) 11' PC, Joshua Delarber (GER) 30' PC, Florian Adrians (GER) 49'

Indians were undefeated in this tournament but lost match which matter the most ... Germany defeated us in the final ... We conceded 6 penalty corners and Germany scored 2 goals from that ... We were unlucky as ball hit to German post and German goalkeeper Victor was excellent under the post, who saved few ... Disappointing result for us but today German were better team on the field.

Hockey News
At 2nd Sultan of Johar Cup, Malaysia

Saturday 17 November 2012
India dw Malaysia 3-3
Goal Scorers - Akashdeep (IND) 19', ?, Gurmail Singh (IND) 63' and Mohd Noor Faeez Ibrahim (MAL) 28' PC and 69', Firhan Ashaari (MAL) 45',

In the last match against host Malaysia we managed 3-3 draw ... Indians take lead 3 times in the match and all 3 times Malaysians equalized, last goal they scored in 69 minutes.

In the final we r facing Germany, who defeated Pakistan 3-0 in other match.

Hockey News
At 2nd Sultan of Johar Cup, Malaysia

Thursday 15 November 2012
India bt New Zealand 3-1
Goal Scorers - Mandeep Singh (IND) 18', Harjeet Singh (IND) 27', Manpreet Singh (IND) 33' and Benedict van Woerkom (NZL) 48'

Wednesday 14 November 2012
India dw Pakistan 0-0

Monday 12 November 2012
India bt Germany 3-1
Goal Scorers - Mandeep Singh (IND) 8' and 9', Akashdeep Singh (IND) 42' and Alexander Schollkopf (GER) 40' PC

Sunday 11 November 2012
India bt Australia 2-0
Goal Scorers - Sukhmanjit Singh (IND) 49' PC, Tirkey Amon Mirash (IND) 70'

Our u-21 team is performing really well in ongoing Sultan of Johar Cup ... They started with win against inexperienced Australian side scoring 2 goals in the second half ... In their second match they defeated 5 times Junior World champion Germany ... From start our boys kept pressure and scored 2 goals through Mandeep Singh in the first 10 minutes ... Germany failed to recover from early set-back ... They reduced margin through penalty corner in the second half but our boys scored another goal for comfortable win ... In the third match we managed only boring draw against Pakistan team ... In this match our forwards failed to win a single penalty corner ... In 4th match we defeated New Zealand comfortably ... From the start our boys dominated the match and scored 3 goals in the first half ... In the second half our team used unnecessary defensive tactics ... They missed numerous chances also and in between New Zealand managed to score but this win guarantee India's place in the final on the Sunday.

Hockey News
At Champions Trophy 2012, Australia

As usual big list of probables ... Hockey India announced the names of 48 probables for the Indian men's hockey team ... Interestingly this time Hockey India also included few players, who were a part of the World Series Hockey (WSH), as standbys ... But again only 6 defenders in 48 players list and 23 forwards ... Moreover HI selected same bunch of players which helped us to achieve unthinkable at Olympics ... CRAP.

List of 48 Probables
Goalkeepers - Bharat Chetri (Karnataka), PR Sreejesh (Tamil Nadu), PT Rao (Services), Tarun Thimmanna (Karnataka), Srenivas Rao (AP)
Fullbacks - VR Raghunath (Karnataka), Ignace Tirkey (Services), Sandeep Singh (Haryana), Rupinderpal Singh (Tamil Nadu), Harbir Singh (Punjab), Lovedeep Singh (Chandigarh)
Midfielders - Sardar Singh (Haryana), Kothajit Singh (Manipur), Birendra Lakra (Jharkhand), Manpreet Singh (Punjab), MB Aiyappa (Karnataka), Bipin Karketta (Orissa), Pradeep Mor (Haryana), Gurmail Singh (Haryana), Amit Rohidas (Orissa), Sampath Kumar Maylaram (AP), Shirish Bisen (UP), Barkat Singh (University), Vivek Dhar (Railways), Jonny Jasrotia (Services)
Forwards - SV Sunil (Services), Gurvinder Singh Chandi (Punjab), Sarvanjit Singh (Punjab), Chinglensana Singh (Railways), Shivendra Singh (Air India), Danish Mujtaba (UP), Tushar Khandker (UP), SK Uthappa (Karnataka), Pradhanna Sommanna (Air India), Nithin Thimmaiah (Karnataka), Yuvraj Walmiki (Maharasthra),Dharamvir Singh (Punjab), Akashdeep Singh (Punjab), MG Poonacha (Railways), Prabhdeep Singh (Punjab), PL Thimmanna (Karnataka), Sukhdev Singh (Services), Lovepreet Singh (Services), Sanjay Bir Singh (Railways), Gurpreet Singh (University), Sanwan Ali (Services), Vikramjit Singh (Punjab), Karamjit Singh (Haryana)

Standbys
Goalkeepers - Kamaldeep Singh (Punjab), Gurpreet Singh (Air India)
Defenders - Gurjinder Singh (Punjab), Harpreet Singh (Haryana)
Midfielders - Manjit Kullu (Railways), Ravi Pal (Punjab), Vikas Sharma (UP), Vikas Pillai (Air India), Devinder Valmiki (Maharastra)

Hockey News
At 2012 Women's Champions Challenge 1, Dublin, Ireland

Quarter Final
India l Scotland 1-1 (1-3 PS)
Goal Scorers - Jaspreet Kaur (IND) 41' PS and Samantha Judge (SCO) 56'

We continued with our trend of taking lead and then squandered it ... In the quarter-final we take lead in 41 minutes through penalty stroke but Scottish team equalized through field goal in 56 minutes ... In extra-time both teams failed to score goal but Scottish team won penalty shoot-out comfortably scoring 3 goals and we managed only 1.

Hockey News
At 2012 Women's Champions Challenge 1, Dublin, Ireland

Pool A
India l Belgium 2-3
Goal Scorers - Roselin Dungdling (IND) 1', Own Goal (BEL) 14' and Erica Coppey (BEL) 33' PC, Stephanie De Groof (BEL) 63' PC, Alix Gerniers (BEL) 70'

Alix Gerniers scored winner when only 45 seconds remaining on the clock which gave superb comeback victory for Belgium ... Indians were leading 2-0 after first 1 minutes but they really messed up to lose after squandering that lead ... After half-time Indians were leading 2-1 but Belgium scored 2 goals in last 8 minutes for the victory.

Hockey News
At 2012 Women's Champions Challenge 1, Dublin, Ireland

Pool A
India l Australia 1-8
Goal Scorers - Ritu Rani (IND) 18' and Madonna Blyth (AUS) 3' PC and 57' PC, Casey Eastham (AUS) 21', Jodie Schulz (AUS) 24' PC and 70' PC, Claire Messent (AUS) 50', Georgia Nanscawen (AUS) 64', Emily Hurtz (AUS) 68'

Indians women gave very dispirited performance against favorite Australian team ... After conceding 1st goal in 3rd minute Indians equaled through captain Ritu Rani in 18th minute but after that Australians dominated all match ... Australians scored 5 goals in the second half after leading 3-1 after the first half ... Australian converted 4 penalty corners ... Now our women need to win the last pool match against Belgium for finishing on the second position.

Hockey News
At 2012 Women's Champions Challenge 1, Dublin, Ireland

Pool A
India bt Wales 3-0
Goal Scorers - Ritu Rani (IND) 18', Lily Chanu Mayengbam (IND) 28' PC, Soundarya Yendala (IND) 70' PC

India opened its 2012 Champions Challenge 1 tournament with a 3-0 win against Wales ... Wales gave solid performance but Indians converted their chances ... Next match against WR #7 Australia is very important for Indians.