Hockey News: Indian Coach Graham Reid is angry at players for lack of effort
Indian men's hockey squad finished their Commonwealth Games campaign with a silver medal. But, coach Graham Reid is very disappointed with their performance in the championship match against Australia
India Hockey at its lowIndia gave their worst performance of the year to record a 7-0 loss to Australia in the final. Australia controlled the game with their relentless attacks and quick movement to remind India of their 1-7 thrashing in the pool match of the Tokyo Olympics.
The Indian squad lacked the grit and energy to resist Australia. Veteran goalkeeper PR Sreejesh was the saving grace for India as he made several fantastic saves to limit the margin from getting even worse.
It was the third loss to loss to Australia in the final of the men's hockey event at the Commonwealth Games for India.
India's coach Graham Reid is a retired hockey player from Australia and knows what's needed to beat his home country.
After the match, Graham Reid said, "There is a thing called energy. I do not think we had that today. When you play Australia, this can happen sometimes. But I am disappointed we didn't play well at all. We let ourselves down and all the things we talked about we didn't do. It is disappointing."
"Need to move on," says Harmanpreet Singh
Harmaanpreet Singh believes the team must move from the disappointing loss to Australia. He thinks there are many lessons to learn from their run in Birmingham despite the loss to Australia.
India gave several impressive performances, beating Ghana 11-0, Canada 8-0 and Wales 4-1 en route to the final. The drag-field also shared that all the matches will be analysed after the squad returns to camp two weeks later.
Vice-captain Harmanpreet Singh said, "It is hard to digest a loss by such a big margin. Definitely, the entire team is disappointed by the way we played, but it's important we move on from this bitter outing. Like, Chief Coach mentioned, we lacked the energy and tempo required to match up a team like Australia."
Harmanpreet Singh finished as the second highest goalscorer of the tournament with nine goals alongside Gareth Furlong of Wales. Nicholas Bandurak was at the top of the charts with 11 goals.
The Indian squad will return to the coaching camp in Bangalore on August 29 to prepare for the 2022-23 edition of the FIH Pro Hockey League.