Olympic heartbreak in Ranchi as India go down to Japan

The moment the final hooter went off, India goalkeeper Savita Punia took off her helmet and trudged straight towards the dugout. The other Indian players, each of them parked in the Japanese half for the large part of the final quarter desperately hunting for the equaliser, soon followed, one heavy step after another.
They all sat on the dugout benches without uttering a word to the other, staring into the abyss. The smoky haze from the day before had long made way for a brighter Friday, but the cold reality would only bite them now.
The Indian women’s hockey team will not go to the 2024 Paris Olympics after throwing away another chances-littered, high-pressure, must-win contest. India’s plethora of nine penalty corners (PC) yielded no returns. Japan converted one from their four in the sixth minute to get the one goal that mattered and the final Paris spot from the FIH Women’s Hockey Olympic Qualifiers in Ranchi.
Breaking their silenced stares, the women got up and into a huddle with head coach Janneke Schopman and the rest of her staff. Fewer words were spoken, certainly a lot quieter than the animated chants before the game. That seemed a long time ago.
So does the fourth-place finish at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, a potentially defining moment in Indian women’s hockey that only returned to the Olympic stage in 2016 Rio for the first time after 1980. Many of these players who experienced the crest of Tokyo will now have to live by the trough of not being able to qualify for Paris.
“This is really hard for us to take,” said Savita, the captain as teary-eyed as most of her players after the game. “I didn’t think that our team did not deserve to go the Olympics.”
After giving Germany a run for their money only to go broke in the sudden death of penalty shootouts, the players woke up believing they could do it all over again less than 24 hours against Japan. However, like their opening loss to USA with a similar scoreline, they did not turn up with the same finishing flair to get past a resolute opposition.
“We dominated the game after 1-0. But you need to score a goal. And we didn’t,” Schopman told reporters.
India were playing a team they had beaten thrice last year, once for the Asian Games bronze (where they would’ve sealed the Paris berth with gold) and twice for the Asian Champions Trophy gold in the same stadium in Ranchi. But something seems to switch mentally for this team in matches where the stakes surge, especially at home.
And Jude Menezes, the former India goalkeeper and Japan head coach, knew it well.
“I have played for India so I know what the pressure of expectation is and I know that a home game always has an added pressure in a must-win game. So we pressed higher at the start, and said let’s hope for mistakes,” Menezes said.
Japan’s plan executed to a fault, the fault lines in India’s start were evident. Savita was made to work in the second minute itself, and within six minutes Japan earned their game’s second PC. Kana Urata fired the ball that deflected off Savita’s left leg into the goal.
India did not seem to have a plan to construct a goal, relying on deflections from long slaps to somehow find the goal. Japan, in contrast, knew exactly what to do. They initially used a lot of high balls to not allow India to turn to their free-flowing pressing game, and then sat back to defend for their lives.
The hosts grew into the game and earned a couple of PCs in the 18th and 19th minutes. Both dragflicks by Deepika, who struck against Germany, were saved. Four further PC opportunities came raining down in the third quarter — Udita also took a shot — yet the drought continued (one of Deepika’s PC hit the top of the bar).
Japan’s PC defence remained efficient, their goalkeeper Eika Nakamura exceptional.
She pulled off two brilliant saves early in the final quarter, denying Lalremsiami and Vaishnavi Phalke. India kept pressing hard but went soft in the finishing. Three more PCs came and went. Symbolic of India’s show was Salima Tete’s almost open shot at goal with around 90 seconds to go. It went wide.
“It’s going to hurt for a long time, because when the Olympics is on the TV, we know we wanted to be there,” said Schopman, whose contract runs till the Paris Games.
Asked if she thought she would be around in her role till then, she replied: “That I don’t know. That I don’t know.”
Hockey India president Dilip Tirkey, though, said he was happy with the way the team was performing under the former Dutch player, and that the coach can’t be blamed for this tournament.
“We’re quite happy with how the team is playing and performing under her. If you don’t convert the several PC chances, and can’t finish things off being 2-0 up in the shootout (against Germany), then we can’t blame the coach,” Tirkey said. “At the same time, it is really sad that the women’s team won’t play at the Olympics, especially after qualifying for the past two Games.”