Hockey fans can smile a bit. The Indians won the bronze beating South Korea 1-0, thanks to a tap into the Korean goal by Tushar Khandekar in the second half. A lovely cross from the right flank, deflected off a Korean stick, easy trap by Tushar and the push goes into the corner.
After the initial tightness in the midfield in the first ten minutes, the game opened up with the both the teams using space and attacking with gusto.
The last time India won a medal at the Asian Games was in Busan 2002 where they lost to South Korea in the final and finished with silver. South Korea would take a closer look at their Asian Games campaign as it will be the first time since 1986 Seoul Games they would finish without a medal.
Through the match, you got the feeling that both the teams were trying to pump up the intensity. In their minds, they were still not coming to terms that they had been left behind to play the bronze-medal match.
One could understand the Indians as they had beaten Pakistan, Japan, Bangladesh and Hong Kong to cruise into the semis before a sizzling Malaysian side delivered the killer blow through a golden goal.
It’s a long road ahead. Jose Brasa’s contract ends on November 30th and so does his visa. So India will be without a coach. It would mean rebuilding all over again. When Ric Charlesworth had quit as Indian coach, Indian sports minister Gill said, “We don’t need Ric. India has plenty of coaches.”
The last time an Indian coach took the Indian team to the Olympic qualifying in Chile, the hockey players watched the Beijing Olympics on TV.
Coming back to the match, Indian goalkeeper Bharat Chetri made up for some of the mistakes in the match against Malaysia to keep the Koreans at bay. There were some fine variations from the Koreans but Chetri did well to use his angled stick to save a few shots.
India came out of their shell in the second half. Thanks to Tushar’s goal, the midfield got some life going. Korea got a penalty corner late in the game and the game was held up as the Indians hotly contested the decision from the Pakistan umpire. Gurbaj Singh was shown the yellow card. But they held on and now can relax with a bronze.