Indian hockey captain Chetri says his team not good enough to play in big events like Olympics

India’s disastrous hockey campaign in the London Games ended with a humiliating bottom spot finish out of 12 competing nations, and it prompted a dejected skipper Bharat Chetri to say that the former champions were not good enough to play at a big stage like the Olympics, says a report in The Hindu.
“We thought we could do well here, but the team was not good enough for a top-class event like the Olympic Games. We need to be better prepared for such events, where experience seems to matter a lot more than we thought,” said Chetri after India lost 2-3 to South Africa in the 11-12th place classification match at the Riverbank Arena in London on Saturday.

The India-South Africa match-up was between the last placed teams in the two preliminary groups. India had lost all their five pool matches and today’s loss to South Africa completed the most miserable show at the Olympics for the eight-time gold medallists, who in 2008 had failed to qualify for the Beijing Games. India were placed 10th in the world rankings ahead of the Olympic Games.

Meanwhile The Times Of India reports that Indian hockey team's assistant coach Mohammed Riaz has warned that heads will roll after country's disastrous campaign in the London Games ended on Saturday with a humiliating bottom spot finish out of 12 competing nations.

"If the senior players are not able to perform, perhaps it is time for them to move on," said Riaz after India were beaten 2-3 by South Africa in the 11-12th place classification match, thus suffering their sixth straight loss in the competition at the Riverbank Arena.

"We had a very bad tournament. We build pressure on ourselves by repeatedly missing chances in all matches. The boys were mentally down and the team's morale was low as one defeat followed another," added the Olympian.