At last, a win for India
At last, a win for India
At last the fragrance of victory. India huffed and puffed on a hazy, cloudy morning here to overcome South Africa and finish a poor 11th in the hockey World Cup. The only consolation out of the verdict is that India retains the chance of figuring in the Champions Challenge scheduled at Boom (Belgium) next June.
It would be churlish to presume the result on Sunday has restored a degree of prestige for India. Far from it. This is the first time in the history of World Cup that India has taken the 11th position, although it has the distressing experience of ending at the bottom of the table in 1986. India was 10th at the last edition in 2002.
Needless to say, the encounter was a now-or-never situation to remain in contention for competitions at the international level. And the team just managed that after a desultory performance. The only sparkling moment came when Rajpal Singh deflected a penalty corner by Dilip Tirkey midway through the second half.
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