Can’t rewrite the past, but the future is bright

It has been so frustrating. We were prepared to play 11 opponents, not 13. As I write this, I have just finished an extensive session, spent...

It has been so frustrating. We were prepared to play 11 opponents, not 13. As I write this, I have just finished an extensive session, spent watching the videos and replays of the India-New Zealand match. I have found at that there were at least three penalty corners and one penalty stroke which were denied to us by the umpires.

Yet, consider what happened as the match ended. One umpire blew the final whistle. The other umpire, in the other half of the field, overruled him, re-opened the match and awarded New Zealand a penalty corner. To say the team was stunned would be an understatement. We were defeated not by the opponents, but by dubious umpiring.

The tournament is not over, even if our chances of a semi-final berth have gone. In these circumstances, the boys cannot be expected to be ecstatic. You acquire wings when you win matches. Your morale is boosted, and you begin to fly. At these Olympics, our wings have been clipped, match by match, moment by moment.

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There are also injury problems. William Xalco is out with an injured thumb. Deepak Thakur’s illness has come as a shock to the team. Baljeet Singh Dhillon too is nursing a bad shoulder, though he is recovering. What has this tournament left us with?

For a start, we are satisfied with our penalty corner conversions as well as with our free hits outside the striking circle. These were worry areas earlier but in Athens we have finally ironed out the flaws. However, we do end up with quite a few unforced errors.

The only sore point has been the umpiring. I have always been proud of my card-free, censure-free record as a player and don’t believe in questioning the umpires. But believe me, this tournament has disappointed me. The Olympic experience has left us with vital inputs for the future. We have to work on a second-string to replace the veterans who may not be around till 2008. We can’t rewrite the past, but the future is ours to grasp.