World cup 2023 Host hockey India team lost to New Zealand and failed to reach the quarter final of the cup this time.
Hockey India CEO Dilip Tirkey complained on Sunday that the hosts missed numerous chances in a sudden and fatal loss to New Zealand as they staggered away from the Hockey World Championship here. India twice saw New Zealand carve out a two-goal lead in regulation time as the game ended 3-3 after 60 minutes. India eventually lost 4-5 after a sudden death. We’ve always said that corners are very important for winning games, but we lost them one after the other,” said Tirkey, also a former captain and one of the best defenders of his time, in a video on his Twitter account.
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Mr. Tirkey said that they will have an internal review meeting on the performance of the team in this world cup. He will ask sr. players and the coach that, why the hunger for win was not present in this team in all the matches. All were well –known that big goal difference is a must during league matches, then why that passion to make a goal was missing?
Mr. Tirkey also added that, he had a big faith on drag flicker Harmanpreet Singh. He was assured that he will lead the team with his performance till the quarter’s. But in all 4 matches along with New-Zealand match, he saw Harmanpreet out of form. He expressed worry about his sudden down form during the whole journey of the team.
He also explained about the lots of chances during Indian team’s tenure in this cup event.
He told,” we had a chance to win on penalties. We had two chances. Our goalkeepers made two sudden saves and we had a chance to win which we lost,” he said, beating the team. Tirkey, India’s top player with 412 caps, said the side learned a lot from the defeat.
“We hope to do well in the next game.”
India meets Japan in a non-essential 9th-16th place match on January 26.
