CWG Hockey

New Delhi: The reign of Australia in the CWG men’s hockey competition was extended to 4 gold medals in a row on Thursday. With a display that reflected the effect of method, mobility and of the myriad patterns, the Aussies overwhelmed India with an embarrassing 8-0 victory in the finals before a packed audience in the presence of Dr. Manmohan Singh at the Major Dhyan Chand Stadium.

The Australians on this day elevated their craft and competence to a new level of excellence, clearly enlarging the chasm that exists between a World champion and the 9th ranked team like India. Quite predictably, the expectations were very high, somewhat exaggerated too by the media, after the win over England in the semis.

But India was outplayed and outstretched in every nuance of the game, losing the plot midway in the first half, flunking the first penalty corner. Consciously keeping the pace within manageable limits, the Indians obviously were in a miserable state of keeping the aggressive and athletic Aussies under some check most of the part.

Progressively the Aussies escalated the pace, and struck when a clean forward pass by Matthew Swann flabbergasted the defenders. Jason Wilson produced a stunner of a shot to surprise the goal-keeper Chettri for the lead.

This opening was sufficient enough for the Australians to get a grip over the match and they continued to exercise absolute control till the last second when Glenn Turner smashed in the 8th goal with complete ease.

Appalling work in the defensive line, with even Sardar Singh playing below par and Mahadik finding himself at wrong positions most of the time, helped the Aussies get the ball in India’s half most of the time. There was seriously no mid-field work worth describing.

Even the celebrated Arjun Halappa looked helpless and underperformed. Neither Gurbaj nor Prabodh were able to match the speedy runs of Glenn Tuner and Jason Wilson.

Under pressure each second, goalie Chettri was lost in the maze of moves. The penalty corner thunderbolts one by Chriss Ciriello and 2 by Luke Doerner exposed the vulnerability of the defenders. In the mayhem caused by the Aussies through their capacity to conceive raids in a jiffy, the Indian forwards were reduced the state of mere spectators. India managed just two penalty corners in the match against the five of the Aussies.

The Australian counterattack was worth seeing. It somehow resembled a fantasy game with your hot favorite team pulling off some magical moves and making it for Gold.

The final verdict will go into the history as one of the worst suffered in a final. Many were compelled to recall the 1-7 loss against Pakistan in the Asian Games of 1982. The only consolation perhaps is the fact that the silver here is the first ever medal of any kind for India in the men’s hockey competition in the CWG.

Tags: Australia, Commonwealth Games, Commonwealth Games, Cricket, Hockey, India, Major Dhyan Chand Stadium, Sports