Indian hockey team can spring a few surprises in London Olympics: Somaya

Former captain MM Somaya on Wednesday said the Indian hockey team can spring a few surprises in the London Olympics which kick starts on Friday, says a report in The Hindu.

“Michael Nobbs has instilled lot of confidence in the team. The team is playing a different sort of game - tactically very alert, very fit. They have done well and I hope they carry this form to the Olympics. They are capable of surprising a few teams. They have a difficult pool but I am hopeful they will do well,” Somaya said at an event organised by Sportstar magazine here.

Eight-time champions India failed to qualify for the Beijing Olympics four years ago. Somaya, a member of the gold medal-winning team of the Moscow Olympics, was, however, non-committal on the team’s chances of winning a medal in London.

According to a report in The Times Of India, Somaya said, "This young Indian team comes very close to the one we had at 1984 Los Angeles Games, which was better than 1980 I felt. The present side reminds me of that team," said Somaya while speaking at the re-launch function of sports weekly magazine Sportstar at the Cricket Club of India here on Tuesday afternoon.”

Meanwhile according to a report in The Hindu says that the result of India’s opening hockey match against the Netherlands on July 30 will be crucial to India’s chances in the London Olympics and they should not miss a single penalty corner against them, says former player Michael Kindo.

“India has a tough opening challenge against the Netherlands. A win or a draw would ease the team in its quest for a hockey medal, as Germany and New Zealand are also in India’s group,” Kindo, a member of the bronze-medal winning team in the 1972 Munich Olympics, said.