Indian hockey's last chance to save face

After a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Pakistan - this being their fourth loss in six games in Athens - the Indians now face South Korea for the seventh place.

The last three Olympics have not seen India finish better than seventh in hockey and regardless of what they do against South Korea, that streak will extend to four. It has been a demoralised and disjointed Indian hockey team, riddled with intrigue and confusion that has been seen in action at Athens.

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After a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Pakistan - this being their fourth loss in six games in the Greek Capital - the Indians now face South Korea for the seventh place. The Koreans themselves have been less than impressive this time, but with India looking totally out of sorts, the Koreans will be interested in scoring a psychological point or two. After all, India and Korea have to come up against each other at the Asian platform every now and then.

Gerhard Rach, the German coach, who was brought in at the last moment, has been facing a lot of criticism from inside and outside the team. Even as the tournament nears its end, speculation is rife that he may not be given a full contract for an extended period. And if coaching continues in this tournament-to-tournament basis, Indian hockey has little hope.

The spells of good hockey for India in Athens have been few and far between. One of those was against Australia but then they failed to hold out in the end and lost. But for that last minute - a recurring feature for India - things could have been slightly better.

This Indian team, despite controversy over selection and omission of players or changing coaches and the federation's running battle with the media, got it all. They competed all over, trained in United States and Germany and the federation with its publicity machinery managed to hype, what now looks as nothing more than a mediocre team with little planning and less-than-desired level of fitness.

The only gains of the tournament have been goalkeeper Adrian de Souza and skipper Dilip Tirkey. De Souza, has manned the goal well and except for the last 15 minutes against Argentina, when he got injured, he has been under the bar all the time and has been instrumental in keeping the margins of defeat lower than what these could have been otherwise. Tirkey has been outstanding as a defender and has also led the team well from the front.