After being unbeaten till the semi-finals in the Commonwealth Games, the Indian men’s team faltered at Gold Coast when it mattered the most. They lost the semi-final and the bronze medal match by narrow margins to return home without a medal for the first time since 2006.
The women’s team, too, succumbed to Australia in the semi-final and was humiliated 0-6 in the bronze medal game.
The performance director of Indian hockey, David John told Hindustan Times that the players couldn’t handle the pressure of a must-win encounter. So, he now wants a sports psychologist to be added to the support staff.
“The players failed to handle pressure at crucial junctures of the competition. It resulted in the teams returning empty-handed from the Games,” John said.
“The men’s team was already under pressure. We lost to New Zealand [2-3] in the semis and then in the bronze-medal match against England, missed scoring chances. Since things weren’t going their way, the team eventually wilted under pressure,” he said.
Despite having several players in the men’s squad who have played over 150 games, India couldn’t come on tops on a big match day. John said, “We’ve been depending on part time guys to handle mental training. Taking into account the situation, we surely need a full-time person.”
On the women’s squad, John said: “For bronze medal, against England, the forward line failed to click. We had the chance to make a comeback in the third quarter, but poor finishing was a big setback.”
The next big multi-sport tournament for India is the Asian Games, where they’d look to do well and seal their spots for the Tokyo Olympics. But before that, the women’s team will play the Asian Champions Trophy in May, tour Spain in June and head to the World Cup in London in July.
The men’s team will play the Champions Trophy in June ahead of the Asiad.