SANTIAGO - Eight-times gold medallists India missed out on the Olympic Games men's hockey event for the first time when they lost 2-0 to Britain in the final of a qualifying tournament on Sunday.
Great Britain's hockey team players celebrate after defeating India in their final match for the World Hockey Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Santiago, Chile. India's proud record of having played in every Olympic Games men's field hockey tournament since 1928 came to a heartbreaking end on Sunday when they were beaten by Great Britain. [Agencies] |
Britain, gold medallists in 1988, scored two early goals to seal India's fate and win the six-team competition in Chile which also featured the hosts, Austria, Russia and Mexico.
Ashley Jackson set up the first for Barry Middleton in the fourth minute and Richard Mantell flicked in the second in the 10th.
Forward Prabhjot Singh had two efforts blocked in quick succession as India, who won their last gold in 1980, tried to claw their way back and V.R.Raghunath then fired over from a rebound.
India, also beaten 3-2 by the same opponents in the round- robin stage, were unable to find a way through in the second half despite winning a flurry of penalty corners.
"We have been waiting for this for eight months," said Britain captain Ben Hawes.
"It's ...a massive accomplishment for the team. After Thursday, when they played very well, we were aware we had to start quickly.
"The game opened up after the early goal and we weren't as nervous after that. We stayed very physical in the tackle, our technical game has improved a lot and we created chances."
China, Netherlands, South Korea, Canada, South Africa, Spain, Belarus, Pakistan and Australia qualified directly for the Beijing Games.
India missed out on an automatic berth after they failed to reach the 2006 Asian Games final.
New Zealand beat Argentina in the final of the first qualifying tournament last month. The third is in Japan in April.
