Santiago: Chief Hockey Coach Joaquim Carvalho has blamed India's below-par performance and some serious blunders for their 0-2 defeat in the World Hockey Olympic qualifying final at the hands of Great Britain, who also did not put up an extra ordinary performance.
Following the defeat, India failed to qualify for the Olympic Games for the first time in 80 years since their debut in 1928. "We played to just 50 per cent of potential today. Our defence made a silly mistake in the very first minute that led to a goal and another error on the flanks resulted in a second goal against us. We could not recover from these setbacks," Carvalho said after the match.
Joaquim Carvalho has decided to step down along with his support staff following India's failure to qualify for the 2008 Beijing Olympics for the first time in 80 years.
Talking to PTI here soon after India's 0-2 loss to Great Britain in the final of the Qualifying Tournament last night, Carvalho said his failure to 'deliver result' prompted him to resign.
"When I took over 11 months ago, I had said I would resign if I cannot deliver results. So, now, I am keeping my word. Yes, I am as disappointed and hurt as any other Indian hockey fan. Having said that, failure to qualify for the Olympics is not the end of the road for Indian hockey. We now have to start from scratch and renew our attempt to become one of the top teams in the World," he said.
Carvalho said he was still to speak to Indian Hockey Federation president KPS Gill about his resignation, but asserted that his decision was final.
When asked whether he would re-consider his decision if asked by the IHF, Carvalho said, "I don't know. I will have to give everything a lot of thought. There are a few issues too that the IHF will first have to straighten out.
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"In any case, for the moment, I am firm in my decision to step down along with assistant coaches Mohinder Pal Singh and Ramesh Parameswaran." The coach opined that there was still a lot of potential in the current team and that there was no need to press the panic button.
"We must retain the core team and perhaps even induct a few junior players. Some of the seniors in the team might have to think hard about their future in international hockey," he said.
Scoring twice in the first-half, Britain ended India's Olympic dreams with a 2-0 win in the final of the World Hockey qualifying tournament at the Prince of Wales Country Club, here. Barry Middleton (4th minute) and Richard Mantell (10th) struck for Britain who then showed the discipline and character to withstand intense pressure in the late night match to emerge deserving winners while qualifying for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Eight times gold medallists India thus failed to make it to the Olympics for the first time since their debut in 1928.
While the Britain players celebrated to the accompaniment of the song "We are the Champions", the Indian, heads bowed, shoulders slumped, could only watch the jubilant scenes of a team that played smarter if not better hockey.
On the day, it was Britain who showed a lot of steel in dealing with the massive pressure they were subjected to by the Indian forwards. The difference was that Britain, who had beaten India 3-2 in the league, capitalized on the two early chances that came their way, while the Indians did not.
In contrast, India could never really settle down and the two yellow cards to their key players, midfielder Sardara Singh and forward Prabhjot Singh filled their cup of woe. It brought the number of yellow cards to five in three matches.
India also blew five penalty corners with neither Ramachandra Raghunath with his drag-flicks nor Dilip Tirkey with his direct hits able to convert. In fact, their set-piece drill in the second-half was rather pathetic, as the ball was not even stopped cleanly.
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