A top-four finish in London Olympics would be a miracle, says former hockey players

A top-four finish in London Olympics would be a “miracle” for the hockey team, feel former players. According to a report in Hindustan Times, former captain Zafar Iqbal was impressed with the improvement Indian hockey has made under Micheal Nobbs but feels it would be too premature to expect a podium finish in London.

“I don't have high hopes of a medal, but we should at least play better hockey. We suddenly can't expect to jump to the top league from number 10 position. If anything of this sort happens it would be a miracle,” Zafar said.

His views were supported by another former India captain Pargat Singh, who said that the Indians hockey fans should not expect any extraordinary result. “We are slowly coming into the groove but we still have miles to go to match top teams like Australia, Germany and the Netherlands,” he said.

However Mumbai-based astrologer Greenstone Lobo begs to differ and says the Indian hockey team may surprise all with a stupendous performance at the Olympics. “Bharat Chetri, the Indian hockey captain was born in 1981, with similar planetary configurations to MS Dhoni. The power of revolutionary Uranus was required to break the shackles and bring back the cricket World Cup to India. Chetri has Uranus exalted and team also possesses strong horoscopes to bring glory to India,” says Lobo in a report in The DNA.

“The teams that have good chances at the medals are Spain, The Netherlands, Germany and India. India will do well as a unit, when it matters. While Chetri would be solid at goal, ace drag flicker Sandeep Singh will find form, Sardar Singh, Shivendra, SV Sunil, Raghunath, Ignace and others would make things happen. The Aussie coach Michael Nobbs himself would be surprised by the extraordinary surge of the Indians.”

Meanwhile according to a report in The Times Of India, wrestler Sushil Kumar, is unhappy with arrangements after being left without a personal physio, officials said on Friday. Kumar, a bronzemedallist at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, is upset that the Indian wrestling squad is without a dedicated physiotherapist despite the prospect of multiple, bonejarring bouts on the same day.

He has even offered to pay from his own pocket for the expenses of national wrestling physio Arvinderpal Singh, who has been working with the team for the past two years but has not been accredited for London.