The mention of Paris, the City of Love with a penchant for art, fashion and culture, comes across an unusually high number of times through the streets of sleepy and nippy Ranchi. On every billboard that greets and informs you about the FIH Women’s Hockey Olympic Qualifiers that kicked off in the city on Saturday, the words “EN ROUTE TO PARIS” are imprinted in bold, capital and large fonts.
India’s route to the 2024 Paris Olympics, though, encountered a huge stumbling block to begin with, as the hosts went down 0-1 to lower-ranked USA on the opening night at the Marang Gomke Jaipal Singh Astroturf Hockey Stadium here on Saturday.
The crushing defeat threatens to derail the women’s team’s hopes of just getting to the Paris Games after a memorable fourth-place finish in Tokyo three years ago. It also leaves them with no scope for another slip-up in their second match against world No.9 New Zealand — they beat Italy 3-0 in their opener — on Sunday.
On paper, India (ranked 6th) are nine spots above USA (15th) but they hardly played this encounter, skill-wise or mentally, like a higher-ranked team. On paper, India had more scoring opportunities (in every aspect: shots on goal, circle penetrations, penalty corners) but they hardly looked like scoring one. On the field and on the day, the Janneke Schopman-coached team just did not turn up.
“We looked not ready today, for the lack of a better word,” Schopman said after the loss. “That, I didn’t expect, to be honest.”
The scrappy start came from both teams. The Indians tried asking a few questions especially from the right flank, though it was the Americans with the answer first. USA thought they’d gone ahead in the 11th minute before a review overturned the goal as the ball had struck their own player’s foot before going in.
A minute into the second quarter, USA did indeed go ahead after the Indian defence failed to clear the ball inside the circle. Tamer Abigail couldn’t lift the ball over goalkeeper and captain Savita Punia but did calmly manage to trickle it in off the rebound.
Midway through the quarter, India had three back-to-back penalty corner (PC) opportunities and, true to their glaring lack of effectiveness in that area, could convert none. The hosts then began to display a lot more attacking hockey yet not necessarily incisive. With a couple of minutes to go, Sangita Kumari’s reverse flick went wide while a Navneet Kaur attempt was saved by USA goalkeeper Kelsey Bing.
At half-time, India held the upper hand in circle entries (8 to 3) yet not in the game and the stat that truly matters. The third quarter resembled an extension of the first two: India had three PCs (the first mistrapped by Sonika and the other two missed by Navneet) and a few more circle entries with no goals to show against the gritty opposition.
A deafening roar engulfed the stadium third minute into the final quarter as Udita’s flick off another PC finally went it but, as it turned out after the video referral, it had brushed Jyoti’s foot along the way. The silence that soon made way was palpable at the final whistle, both among the home fans and players.
India will have to do a lot more talking on Sunday against New Zealand. And not just on paper.