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The Indian hockey team beat Korea 3-0 to finish 9th in the Hockey World Cup at Kycorea Stadium at The Hague, Netherlands today.
The first goal of the game came from Akashdeep Singh in the 6th minute to give India a 1-0 lead. After that there was no goal in the first half. Penalty corners were again a problem for India as they were not able to convert and thread the goalkeeper on any occasion. But both team did try their best to put the ball in the net.
The second half saw two goals from the Indian team - one from Rupinder Pal Singh from a penalty stroke and the next one from Akashdeep Singh – which pretty much sealed the match. The Koreans were not at their best and the main problem was their inability to penetrate the Indian goalkeeper P Srjeesh.
This tournament has amply shown that India needs to improve its penalty corner conversion. Also, the passing needs to be improved considerably, and the team has to save some of its energy for the end in order to avoid conceding late goals.
India’s coach Terry Walsh must understand the abilities of each player and plan much better for the upcoming Asian Games and Commonwealth Games. These two events will give an idea of how much India has improved. The onus is on Walsh to recognize each player’s skills and create an atmosphere for the betterment of Indian hockey.
In this tournament from the Indian point of view Akashdeep Singh, Mandeep Singh and P Sreejesh were outstanding. As for the rest of the players, if they had grabbed all the chances that come their way, the team could have ended up in the top 8, which have would have been a decent result. But alas, that was not to be.
