Admitting that finishing last in London Olympics was extremely disappointing, Indian hockey coach Michael Nobbs said that after we had made some really good strides in the past year and had had some really good results, to finish like that was disheartening. Talking to The Times Of India, Nobbs said that he hoped India could have liked won at least a couple of games.
“We had the pool of death. It was the pool of death by a mile. Every team in pool was above India in the rankings. We were only better than Belgium who is fast improving in the last six years. And, Holland walloped Britain 9-2,” said Nobbs, adding that it's no excuse. “That's the reason. We've only had our team together for 12 months now. It was unrealistic to think that India would finish in the middle of the pack. We had the youngest and most inexperienced team at the Olympics,” said Nobbs, adding that the last finish was extremely disappointing and embarrassing.
Nobbs also said that people's expectations of hockey are way beyond the actual picture. “The programme in place in countries like Germany, Holland, Belgium, Australia, New Zealand and Korea have been in place for many, many years and very well-structured and the results are as they are showing. Germany, Holland and Australia haven't gone off the top four for 30 years now. So their programme and structures work. If you don't have those programmes and processes in place, you'll never get there. These are the things required in Indian hockey, which haven't been there. If they had, we'd be up there. You can't take a Band Aid approach. That's why it's important to have a five-yearly programme. And I had said to everybody, 'Be prepared for some pain'. You can keep applying Band Aid, but when the person's hemorrhaging, it doesn't work,” Nobbs said to TOI.
Meanwhile legendary Balbir Singh is dismayed at the plight of Indian hockey which touched a new low in the London Olympics, where the eight-time gold medallists finished at the bottom of 12-team competition. Balbir, a member of the 1948 gold medal winning team, returned to the Olympic arena in London after 64 years to watch some of India's matches, but was shattered at the lackluster display of Michael Nobbs' wards.
"I am dismayed at the plight of the Indian hockey team. The Indian team did not seem to be in the contest. That's a very sad reflection on the game that earned laurels for the nation," said the triple Olympic gold medallist.
According to a report in The Indian Express, having pinned great hopes on the Indian Hockey team during the London Olympics 2012, the teams bottom-place finish has left Jalandhar hockey manufacturers in shock and are now shying away from openly declaring that they were the hockey manufacturers for the Indian Hockey team. Jalandhar is home to over 70 big and small hockey manufacturing units.
Some companies had sponsored a few players on the team in a bid to drum up business, but it seems their plans have backfired. Sports Forum President Sanjay Kohli of Rakshak firm, one of the leading manufacturers and exporters of Hockey sticks and accessories, said that it was the worst ever performance by the Indian Hockey team and that the blame lies with the internal politics of the selection committee.
“For the past three days we have shut our eyes and ears as people pass comments on us. Now we have started saying that we don’t manufacture only hockey items,” Kohli revealed. “We will face heavy losses nationally and internationally in the coming months. We get orders from several countries but they first see performance of our hockey team,” he added.
