India toil against Ireland in hockey, women shooters flop

RIO DE JANEIRO: Indian men’s hockey team landed in Brazil after some good results and determined to banish the last-place finish at the London Olympics. On Saturday,

RIO DE JANEIRO: Indian men’s hockey team landed in Brazil after some good results and determined to banish the last-place finish at the London Olympics. On Saturday, their opening Pool B fixture against unfancied Ireland should have been a statement of intent.

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The eight-time champions won alright but the 3-2 scoreline, after twice letting the opposition come within a goal of forcing a draw leaves them with plenty of work and reorganisation to do before they face defending champions Germany next on Monday.

India were the better team initially and penalty-corner expert V Raghunathan put them ahead in the 15th minute. Rupinder Pal Singh converted two more penalty corners (27th min, 49th min), but failing to score a field goal against Ireland would cause some concern.

Although India were the better team in the first two quarters, they seem to lose the edge in the second part of the game as the robust Ireland players pushed forward.

John Germyn (45th) and Conor Harte (56th), the latter scoring a field goal, saw some panic in the Indian ranks but they held on. The pool also has Netherlands, silver medallists in London, Argentina as well as Canada.

ROWER UP

Dattu Baban Bhokanal, India’s only entry in rowing, progressed to the quarterfinals after finishing third in the first of six heats in men’s single sculls. A rower who has made rapid progress in recent months, Bhokanal won silver in the Rio qualification event. However, the armyman was 13th among 15 direct qualifiers for the last eight, which means he will face a huge challenge in the next round on Tuesday.

OFF TARGET

Shooting is one event where India have won a medal in the last three Olympics. But Apurvi Chandela and Ayonika Paul painted a dismal picture in the women’s 10m air rifle, eliminated in the qualifying stage after finishing 34th and 47th respectively in a field of 51 shooters.

Chandela, who won gold in the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games, was regarded the better prospect, but she could only manage 411.6 points. Ayonika (403.0) was further back.

MIXED BAG

Indian women table tennis players weren’t expected to mount much of a challenge and both lost in the first round. Mouma Das, in her second Games, lost 0-4 (2-11, 7-11, 7-11, 3-11) to Daniela Monteiro Dodean of Romania, the world No 58. Manika Batra fought against Poland’ s Katarzyna GrzybowskaFranc before going down 2-4(12-10, 6-11, 12-14, 11-8, 4-11, 12-14) to the world No 60.