Paris Olympics 2024: Indian men's hockey team's rumble in the bronze!

Men’s hockey gold medallists Netherlands (centre) are flanked by silver medallists Germany (left) and bronze medal-winners India (right) on the victory podium at the Paris Olympics recently. Pics/Getty Images

Even as the Indian men's hockey team's bronze medal continues to glitter, every member of that 16-man line-up rues the fact that it could well have been gold if not for their painful 2-3 semi-final defeat to Germany.

However, a closer look at Team India's statistics at the quadrennial showpiece reveals why they missed the golden glow. Interestingly, it also shows how the tables have turned, with India, who were traditionally known for skillful field goals, now relying on penalty corners, while the Europeans, who were PC
experts, now scoring more field goals.

Poor PC conversion rate

Firstly, India were over-reliant on captain Harmanpreet Singh to score off his penalty corner drag-flicks. And though the skipper emerged as the tournament's highest scorer with 10 goals, he managed to convert just seven direct PCs while forwards Mandeep Singh and Sukhjeet Singh tapped in from close range, converting two more as India scored only nine times off the whopping 53 penalty corners they earned. That's an extremely poor conversion rate of 16.98. In the crucial semi-final against Germany, India got as many as 11 PCs, of which Harmanpreet converted just two.

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India skipper and drag flicker Harmanpreet Singh

The second, and possibly, more telling problem for India was their shortage of field goals. Out of 15 goals, the forwardline, comprising Abhishek, Sukhjeet, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Mandeep and Gurjant Singh could only contribute three field goals.

Of this, Abhishek scored two and was the only forward to get a field goal, while midfielder Vivek Sagar Prasad scored one. Just three field goals in eight matches is an alarming statistic considering the Indian forwardline created as many as 138 circle penetrations in the tournament, an average of 17.25 circle raids per match.

Finalists too good

A comparison of the above numbers to that of the top two teams in the tournament (Netherlands and Germany) shows where India were lacking. Gold medallists, Netherlands scored 23 goals of which 14 were field goals. They converted just six off the 43 PCs at 13.95, but their total circle penetrations were an impressive 164 - a whopping 20.5 per game. Silver medal-winners Germany also scored 23 goals like the champion Dutch outfit, but netted one more field goal than them, 15.

The Germans converted five of the 20 PCs they earned at 20.00 and made 145 circle penetrations, at 18.13 per game. These shortcomings could well have been at the heart of India's regrettable moments.