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Indian team was the best in Asian Games: Sandeep Singh
NEW DELHI:
Disappointed with
the bronze medal
finish at the Asian
Games, ace drag
flicker Sandeep Singh on
Sunday said that the Indian
hockey team was the best in the
quadrennial event but lack of
video referral system deprived
the team of a well-deserved
victory against Malaysia in the
semifinal.
India had defeated arch-rivals
Pakistan in the league phase
and defending champion Korea
in the bronze medal play-off.
The Rajpal Singh-led team lost
to Malaysia through
Muhammad Amin Rahim's
golden goal in the semis despite
leading 3-2 till the 67th minute.
Amin had earlier converted a
penalty corner to equalise.
The former captain, who scored
the highest number of goals (11)
in the tournament, echoed the
sentiments of chief coach Jose
Brasa in condemning the
standard of umpiring.
"After watching the videos of
the semifinal we realised that
the penalty corner, from which
Malaysia scored their third goal,
should actually have been a hit
in our favour. The ball hit the
foot of a Malaysian before it
touched Gurbaj Singh. Similarly
we deserved a penalty stroke at
the last minute. It was poor
umpiring which put us out of
the title contention," Sandeep
said.
"India was definitely the best
team in the tournament. We
had defeated Pakistan and
Korea. We were better than
other teams in all departments
of the game," he said.
The ace full back was playing in
his first Asian Games and
wanted to give his best.
"I could not play Doha Asiad
and the World Cup in 2006 due
to the unfortunate bullet injury.
This was my first Asian Games
and I wanted to be part of the
gold-medal winning team. My
personal aim was to score the
maximum goals and my
conversion rate was more then
75 per cent. I am happy with my
performance but not winning
the yellow metal will haunt us
for a long time to come," he
said.
Asked about how the team
members lifted their morale
after the semifinal loss he said,
"we wanted to win at any cost
to finish on the winning note."
"We were disappointed (at the
loss) but we wanted a podium
finish. A medal is a medal and
bronze was still there in our
hand."
Sandeep has not thought about
the Olympic qualifiers as yet
neither he thinks that the
tragedy of losing the last
qualifiers will add additional
pressure on the team.
"I had not played the qualifiers
in 2008 but I am sure that there
will be no additional pressure
on the team. If we continue the
rhythm, we will win the
qualifiers and play in the
London Olympics in 2012," said
Sandeep.
Sandeep, however, declined to
comment on the issue of
renewal of coach Brasa's
contract which is expiring on
November 30th.
"This is between Brasa, SAI and
Hockey India. I would not like to
comment on it," he said.
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