Sandeep powers India to London Olympics

Ace drag-flicker Sandeep Singh slammed five goals, including a hat-trick, as India qualified for London Olympics men’s hockey after missing out the 2008 edition by spanking France 8-1 in the final of the qualification tournament on Sunday.

Coming into the game with the memories of Santiago debacle four years ago still fresh in their minds, the Indians ensured that there was no repeat of the blunder this time around and toyed with the French defence throughout the 70 minutes to score the goals at will.

Sandeep, who witnessed the Chile debacle from close quarters, continued his goal-scoring spree to not only help eight-time Olympic champions India keep its date with London, but also emerged as the highest scorer of the tournament with 16 goals.

The 18th ranked Frenchmen proved to be a mismatch for the erstwhile giants of the game as India scored three and five goals respectively in both the halves to dash the European team’s London dreams.

The Indians were right on the money with their game plan today as France found it impossible to counter the home team’s consistent attacks.

The difference between the two teams can be gauged from the fact that both India and France earned as many as seven penalty corners each, but the visitors failed to utilise a single one while the hosts converted six.

The rout started with Birendra Lakra’s field goal in the 17th minute after which it was a one man show as Sandeep (19th, 26th, 38th, 49th and 51st) converted five successive penalty corners for India to floor France.

S V Sunil (43rd) and V R Raghunath (56th) were the other goal—getters for the hosts, while Simon Martin—Brisac (24th) scored the consolation goal for France.

‘Sandeep mania’ grips stadium

It was ‘Sandeep Mania’ at its peak with a near-capacity crowd cheering ace drag-flicker Sandeep Singh as he did a ‘high-five’ to fulfill India’s ’London Dreams’.

Once known as the ‘enfant terrible’ of Indian hockey, Sandeep scripted the finest hour of his chequered international career as Michael Nobbs’ men thrashed France 8-1 in the final of the qualification tournament.

If you thought that the chants of ‘Singh is King’ only reverberates around the stadium when Yuvraj Singh hits a six or Harbhajan Singh takes a ‘five-for’ one should have heard the noise that Sandeep created each time he found the France net.

First goal was ‘Sadda Haq’, second goal was ‘Mauja hi Mauja’ and it went on.

Sandeep had stated that “something special” was there for the final and when the song ‘Lakshya ko haar hal mein paana hain’ was played, it sounded more apt than ever before.

The Indian flag was out of the closet and was being fluttered continuously in support of the team. The fans screamed their lungs out every time the ‘man in blue’ run in with the ball into the rival camp.

A bunch of boys with the tri-colour painted in their chest cheered for every move the Indians made and fluttered the national flag.

The crowd gave a standing ovation every time the players scored a goal and there was plenty of it in the match with India and France pumping three and one goals respectively in the first half itself.

Athens Olympics silver medallist Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, who failed to find a place in the Indian shooting team for London Olympics, also turned up to watch the Men in Blue play.