India Win Hockey Gold for First Time in 16 Years, Women Win 4*400m Gold

Mangalore Today News Network

Incheon , Oct 02, 2014: India start Day 13 of the Asian Games 2014 in Incheon on Thursday at the 11th place. At the end of Wednesday, India hit the half-century mark in terms of medal haul but seven golds were not enough to break into the top 10. But lot of equations could change as India eye a historic hockey gold and six athletes will be in the finals of track and field events.

 

17:11 (IST): India last won Asian Games gold in 1998 in Bangkok. India book a direct ticket to Rio Olympics. Indians jubilate. India win the shootout 4-2 after regulation time ended 1-1.

17:10 (IST): India score both 4th and 5th goals to win GOLD.

17:09 (IST): Umar Bhutta misses for Pakistan. India lead 2-1.

17:08 (IST): Manpreet’s goal turned down. It’s quite controversial. Manpreet was brought down. India protest. India lead 2-1.

17:07 (IST): Waqas makes it 2-1 but only after Sreejesh made two saves. Bad luck for India.

17:06 (IST): India lead 2-0 after Rupinderpal scores with a fine push into the net.

17:05 (IST): Haseem Abdul Khan misses for Pakistan. Sreejesh denies him.

17:04 (IST): Gurwinder Chandi first up for India. Gurwinder scores...1-0.

1659 (IST): India make a frantic effort in the dying seconds. It’s 1-1 at the end of regulation time and now it’s going to be the shootout. Can’t get better than this.

1657 (IST): Sunil seems to be only man making an impression up front. The match is surely heading towards a shootouts. A minute left for the hooter.

1654 (IST): India blow it away. Rupinderpal once again shoots straight into Pakistan’s goalkeeper Butt.

1653 (IST): India win a penalty corner with five minutes to go for the final whistle. Only the second one for India. Great chance to take the lead.

1649 (IST): Eight minutes to go and it’s still 1-1. Pakistan are the defending champions. The Indians escape a certain goal after a fine run from the right.



1646 (IST): India employing a lot of man marking. Shakeel Abbasi is the marked man and why not? He is a double Olympian and Pakistan’s most capped player on the field today.

1642 (IST): Hockey - Fourth quarter gets under way. Pakistan make the first attack. India must watch out for the pacy breaks.

1638 (IST): Breaking - Olympic Council of Asia reinstates Sarita Devi’s bronze medal.

1634 (IST): Sardar in more defensive role for India today. This can be a tactical blunder. Sardar needs to show more enterprise in the preparation zone.

1632 (IST): Seven minutes to go and Ramandeep gets a crack at the Pakistan goal. It’s a fierce reverse hit but the Pakistan goalie slaps it away.

1630 (IST): Sreejesh has been a pillar of strength for India. The burly Indian goalie has played through pain in several matches. Today, he will be key again as Pakistan continue to attack.

1628 (IST): Pakistan denied! Sreejesh makes a great save after Muhammad Imran struck firmly.

1627 (IST): Pakistan win their first penalty corner in the seventh minute of third quarter.

1626 (IST): Fifth minute of third quarter and Pakistan escape a certain goal. Brilliant run in by Sunil. Dharamvir made the perfect goalmouth cross but Sunil slips and fails to tap in. Great chance missed by India. This move was dazzling. A typical Sunil run down the middle.

1621 (IST):Hockey - Third quarter gets under way. Pakistan supporters have outnumbered the Indians. South Korea won the bronze medal earlier in the day when the team beat Malaysia.

1615 (IST): Athletics - OP Jaisha finishes fourth in women’s 8000m with a time of 15:18.30 minutes. Preeja Sreedharan clock 15:39.52 minutes to finish 8th. Bahrain’s Yusuf Isa Maryam Jamal wins gold with a time of 14:59.69 minutes. Belete Mimi of Bahrain gets silver and Changqin Ding of China wins bronze.

1610 (IST): It’s 1-1 at halftime. Kothajit Singh’s goal cancels out Rizwan’s 3rd minute goal for Pakistan. We still haven’t seen the classical Asian style hockey. Both teams playing a lot of hit and run stuff.

1608 (IST): Both goals so far in the match have come from long passes. Kothajit got a nice deflection after a sizzling hit from the right. Surely, it was a lucky goal for India.

1606 (IST):GOAL! India equalise through a field goal with four minutes on the clock for second quarter to end. Kothajit Singh scores his first goal of the Asian Games.

1602 (IST): India fail to equalise. Brilliant flying save by Pakistan goalkeeper Imran Butt. It was a good hit by Rupinderpal but this save was just fantastic. Five minutes to go in the second quarter. Pakistan lead 1-0.

1601 (IST): India get the first penalty corner and the Pakistan players are not happy.

1600 (IST): It’s 8th minute in the second quarter and India look determined for the equaliser. But Pakistan defending well.

1554 (IST): Second quarter gets under way. Pakistan looking for more territorial possession and playing a lot of long balls. Not a single penalty corner in the match so far.

1549 (IST): Sunil misses a great chance to level in the final minute of the first quarter. From six yards out he blazed over the top a fine cross from the right. Seconds earlier, Ramandeep failed to score after coming close. It’s the end of the first 15 minutes and Pakistan lead 1-0 by that third minute goal from Rizwan.

1544 (IST): Eleven minutes gone in the first quarter and the Pakistanis are defending well. Indians losing a lot of balls just outside the Pakistan Dee.

1539 (IST): Pakistan trying to put the pressure on India after the third minute goal. It’s quite a pacy game and the Pakistan fans are egging their team at the Seonhak Hockey Stadium.

1536 (IST): GOAL! Pakistan draw first blood from a swift counterattack. Brilliant build-up from the right flank and Rizwan Muhammad slams it in from top of the Dee. A great finish to the left of an outstretched Sreejesh



1532 (IST): Asian Games final gets under way. Both teams on the attack!

1530 (IST): Fantastic atmosphere at the hockey venue. Fans from both nations cheer loudly as players shake hands.

1525 (IST): India lost the group league match 2-1. Nikkin Thimmaiah scored a field goal for India. Pakistan also scored field goals through Shakeel Butt and Waqas Muhammad.

1518 (IST): India are seeking to clinch the gold medal that they last grabbed in 1998 at Bangkok when the mercurial Dhanraj Pillay led the team from the front.

Two-time gold medal winners India had last entered the summit clash in 2002 at Busan, only to end on the losing side with a 3-4 defeat to hosts Korea.

1515 (IST): Get set for India vs Pakistan clash for Asian Games gold. The two teams face each other in the final of this event after 32 years! (Match preview)

1430 (IST): Hockey - South Korean men defeat Malaysia 3-2 to win bronze. Coming up at 1520hrs (IST) is the mouth-watering India vs Pakistan battle for gold.

1232 (IST): Satish loses the third round and match to his much stronger opponent. The Indian gets a bronze for his efforts.

1229 (IST): Dychko takes the second round as well. Satish down on points and needs the bigger punches in the third round.

1228 (IST): A slightly better performance from Satish as his defensive stance saves him some blows. Dychko forced to measure his punches.

1225 (IST): Dychko shows exactly what experience means. He dominates in the first round against Satish.

1221 (IST): Satish received a bye in the previous round. Comes out today, kisses the ring before entering. Dychko though won’t be an easy opponent as he was the silver medallist in the previous edition of Asian Games.

1220 (IST): Boxing - Satish Kumar comes out to fight Ivan Dychko (UZB) in men’s super heavyweight boxing semifinal. Currently ranked sixth, Satish finished fifth in World Championships last year as he could not compete in the quarterfinals due to a cut above his eye.

1118 (IST):Taekwondo - Saurav loses to Afghanistan’s Roman Ahmed Abasi 5-4 in men’s 63kg quarterfinal.

1058 (IST): Bollywood joins hands to wish Mary Kom after the champion boxer punched her way to an Asian Games gold. Read who said what here.

1033 (IST): Taekwondo - Rekha Ranee Gogoi loses her 62kg quarterfinal bout to Chia Chia Chuang of Chinese Taipei.

1015 (IST):Kabaddi - India unstoppable in this event. After women, Indian men storm into the finals. They defeat South Korea 36-25.

0955 (IST): Table Tennis - Soumyajit Ghosh loses 1-4 against North Korea’s Sinhyok Pak in Round of 16 elimination match.

0946 (IST): Volleyball - Indian men defeat Thailand (3-1) to finish fifth in the event. Correction - India will play Qatar on Friday for the fifth spot.

0934 (IST): Boxing controversy - The Incheon Asian Games Organising Committee says India is not the only country to have protested against cheating in boxing. The IAGOC has written to Amateur International Boxing Association.



0928 (IST): Kabaddi - Dominant Indian men take on South Korea in the semifinal. The team is favourite to win the gold medal in the event.

0913 (IST): India take 2-1 lead against Thailand.

0851 (IST): Volleyball - It is 1-1 between Indian men and their counterparts from Thailand.

0838 (IST): Manika Batra beat Ma Chao (MAC) 4-0 to reach last 16 in Women’s Singles.

0831 (IST):Table Tennis - Ankita Das loses 8-11, 5-11, 11-4, 7-11, 11-9, 4-11 to Hong Kong’s Wing Nam.

0825 (IST): Kabaddi - Indian women defeat Thailand with considerable ease to enter final.

0818 (IST): Volleyball - Indian men take on Thailand in their semifinal round for 5th-8th place match. The Indian team had earlier put up a brave fight against a better-ranked Japan but lost in the final set.

0816 (IST): Taekwondo - No good news coming from this event. Shreya Singh becomes the latest to lose her match. She goes down to South Korea’s Lee Wonji in the women’s 67kg category. She outscored her opponent but loses after conceding late penalties.

0815 (IST): Volleyball - Indian women lose to Hong Kong to finish eight in the event.




India are a win away from securing a direct hockey berth in the 2016 Rio Olympics. All that Sardar Singh and his men will have to do is beat Pakistan in the final at the Seonhak Hockey Stadium in Incheon. Beating Pakistan in any match and in any sport is easier said than done. And especially when it comes to hockey, it’s more than skills that matter.

India and Pakistan last played an Asian Games final in 1982 in Delhi. India lost 7-1. Pakistan have a 5-2 head-to-head record against India in the Asian Games. India’s last win vs Pakistan came in the 1966 Bangkok Asian Games. Bangkok has been a happy hunting ground for Indian hockey. It was here in 1998 that India won their last men’s hockey gold.  Since then, India’s fortunes in international hockey has been rather topsy-turvy.

Pakistan, on the other hand, are up against odds. Unlike India, they have had almost zero preparation for the Games. But in Incheon, the team has responded extremely well. Relying on several experienced players who play in Europe, Pakistan beat India in a group league match to top their group. India edged out South Korea to make the title round. The final match will start at 3:30 PM IST.




Boxers and athletes will look for medals too. Satish Kumar (91 kg super-heavy) and Vikas Krishnan (75 kg middle-weight) will fight Kazakh opponents in semifinal matches. All semifinalists are assured of bronze medals. So far, Indian men have not won a single boxing gold. Can Satish or Vikas emulate the magnificent Mary Kom?

There are six track and field finals. The real medal hopes will be around the shot-putters and long-distance runners. Indian men and women are in kabaddi semifinals too. It will be a surprise if India don’t make the kabaddi finals.

 

Courtesy: NDTV