Three years ago in Tokyo, Indian hockey was having its moment. The men's team ended a 41-year wait for an Olympic medal while the women made rapid strides, finishing fourth at the Games.
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Now in 2024, Indian hockey is not the same. The men's team made it to Paris by winning the gold at the Asian Games, but the style and philosophy has undergone a drastic change under Craig Fulton and the women's team failed to qualify for the Paris Olympics.
The challenge is to better last time's performance, which means changing the medal colour, which can prove to be a huge task for Fulton's team. Can they do it? Here's a look:
Who are India's group stage opponents?
The first task for India is to finish in the top four of their group to qualify for the quarterfinal. Finishing in the top four in a group of six doesn't seem so tough, but it can get tricky.
India absolutely need a good start to their campaign in order to avoid a messy situation at the end because their last two group matches are against defending Olympic champions Belgium and Australia, a team which has perennially been a problem. This means that Harmanpreet Singh and co. have to find wins in the first three matches. Both New Zealand and Ireland are ranked below, and India have beaten them and Argentina in the recent season of Pro League.
Having said that, it's the Olympics and big tournament pressure is immense. Not to forget, it was against New Zealand that India lost to at the World Cup and exited their home tournament after a shootout loss.
Ireland may not be world beaters in the sport but they have gained the experience of playing top teams in Pro League and have also defeated Belgium. Argentina, the 2016 Rio gold medallist, also finished above India in the Pro League.
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- Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) July 26, 2024
How is India's recent form and new style of play?
Coming into the Olympics, India didn't have the best of runs in terms of positive results. They played eight matches in the Europe leg of the Pro League but secured just two outright victories -- against Argentina and Germany. India finished the Pro League season at the seventh spot with only Spain and Ireland below them.
It's true that Pro League matches are not completely about results. In the run up to the Olympics, the focus was on fine-tuning and trying out different things in terms of new players, strategies and style. Having said that, India's biggest problem in the last one year has been inconsistency. While there's a definite change in style under Fulton, with control and defence being the keywords, India has struggled to implement their coach's philosophy consistently, especially against the European teams and Australia.
Under Fulton, they play well in patches, but usually don't start well and end up conceding the opening goal. It happened in their last few games against Germany and Great Britain as well as in the home leg of the Pro League against Australia.
They concede fewer goals than they did under previous coach Graham Reid, but also are scoring fewer goals. Two years back when Reid was in charge, India scored 62 goals and conceded 40 in the Pro League season. In the last season under Fulton, the goals scored has come down to 38 and goals conceded to 35. Both the control and defence were missing and India's ranking went down.
India don't score as much as they used to when they won the bronze back in Tokyo, therefore it is crucial for them to not concede goals early in the upcoming matches. If they could establish this pattern right from the first few games and get the early wins, it will help them in terms of confidence and momentum.
Who are the players to watch out for?
In terms of scoring goals, there's captain Harmanpreet Singh and in terms of stopping the goals, there's PR Sreejesh.
The Indian goalkeeper has announced his retirement post the Olympics but even in his final tournament of his long career, the 36-year-old remains a hugely important player for his national team. Sreejesh, who's playing his fourth Olympics, is in rich vein of form having been the best performer in the Pro League season and the Australian series. There are his brilliant saves but more crucially there's no better goalkeeper than him in a penalty shootouts.
The last time Harmanpreet Singh failed in a big tournament, India suffered an ignominious exit. This was the home World Cup last year where his form went for a toss and India couldn't even enter the quarters. In Tokyo, it was his and Rupinder Pal Singh's penalty corner exploits that benefitted the team significantly. This time India don't have a strong back-up dragflicker like last time, so the onus is entirely on their captain. If Harmanpreet's dragflick strike rate increases, India's chances also go up.
Then there's also the experience of Manpreet Singh, who's also playing his fourth Olympics and the dynamism of Hardik Singh, who's one of the best midfielders in the sport.
But in the forward areas, India will want to bring out the best out of Sukhjeet Singh, who made big improvements over the last year or so. Sukhjeet is an all-round forward, who creates chances inside the box as well as scores. He plays his game like Mandeep Singh but is coming into the Olympics in a much better form than his senior partner.
After Harmanpreet (12 goals), Sukhjeet was the highest goal-scorer for India in Pro League, with five and all of them are field goals. His partnership with younger forwards like Abhishek and Araijeet Singh Hundal (who didn't make the squad for Paris 2024) has worked recently with both assisting each other multiple times.
In the Australian series, which India lost 5-0, Indian forwards had a miserable time, scoring just once in five matches. But Fulton identified the problem and made corrections in the Pro League matches. Sukhjeet stepped up and became a constant goal threat against better opponents. His task also includes creating penalty corner chances for his captain. Plenty is riding on the young forward's shoulders and he should realise that there's no time like the Olympics to deliver for the team.
Who are in India's squad?
Goalkeeper: Sreejesh Parattu Raveendran
Defenders: Jarmanpreet Singh, Amit Rohidas, Harmanpreet Singh, Sumit, Sanjay.
Midfielders: Rajkumar Pal, Shamsher Singh, Manpreet Singh, Hardik Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad.
Forwards: Abhishek, Sukhjeet Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Mandeep Singh, Gurjant Singh
Alternate Athletes: Nilakanta Sharma, Jugraj Singh, Krishan Bahadur Pathak.
India's schedule at the Paris Olympics
July 27: India vs New Zealand at 9 PM IST.
July 29: India vs Argentina at 4:15 PM IST.
July 30: India vs Ireland at 4:45 PM IST.
August 1: India vs Belgium at 1:30 PM IST.
August 2: India vs Australia at 4:45 PM IST.