Fans will feel sad for us: Indian goal-keeper

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Sydney: The Indian men's hockey team head home from the Sydney Olympics knowing they "blew it" but don't expect a backlash from their passionate fans.

"Normally in India if you perform badly there is a lot of negative reaction," said goal-keeper Devesh Singh Chauhan.

"But this time they feel very sad for us because everyone knows it was tough luck, I guess," he said after India wound up in seventh place when they had earlier looked to be possible medal winners.

Seventh is one place better than in Atlanta but short of qualifying for the 2001 six-nation Champion's Trophy.

"We played good hockey throughout the tournament, it was just the one lapse that cost us," Chauhan said. "The people back home understand hockey, so they know how it is."

But if the fans are forgiving, criticism from the media has already been quick and stinging.

"All our efforts for the last four years, with so many camps and international exposure trips in preparation for the team have gone to waste," Charles Cornelius, the goalkeeper for India's bronze-winning team in the 1972 Munich Games, told newsmen.

Once-mighty India had come to Sydney with high hopes of restoring some of the past glory that brought them eight golds.

Dangerous in early games

India looked dangerous in their early games, beating Argentina 3-0 and drawing with Australia, but the dreary draw with Poland changed all that and India went on to lose 2-1 to Britain.

India have won eight gold medals at the Olympics, six consecutively between 1928 and 1956, but they have been out of the top four in the years since their last gold in Moscow in 1980, coming fifth in 1984, sixth in 1988 and seventh in 1992.

"It's very very disappointing for us because I think that one match against Poland cost us a medal in this tournament," Chauhan told Reuters. "I think we were good enough for a medal."

But the team backed off after taking the lead against Poland on Tuesday, playing cautiously and missing a rash of chances.

"You can't expect to score one goal and win," he said. "So we missed our chances and we had to pay for it. I guess we blew it."

India are now forced to have to qualify for the 2002 World Cup in Malaysia and the team are expecting tough changes in their line-up and match strategy.

Chauhan said hockey fans should draw some comfort from a topsy-turvy Olympic tournament, in which defending champions the Netherlands were tied by lowly-ranked Malaysia and convinced they were out of the semi-finals after losing 2-0 to Pakistan in their final preliminary match.

South Korea also emerged out of nowhere to beat India 2-0 and Pakistan 1-0 for a first ever shot at the gold against the Netherlands on Saturday.

"I think this has been the closest Olympic tournament ever," Chauhan said.

"The qualifying for the semi-final was down to the last match for both pools. That gives you an idea of how tough the tournament was," he said. "It just doesn't always go the way you want it."



(c) Reuters Limited.