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The Indian men's hockey team is eyeing a podium finish at Paris 2024 after winning bronze in Tokyo three years ago.
For a side that consider themselves to be gold-medal aspirants, a seventh-place finish in the nine-team elite Hockey Pro League competition ahead of the Olympics seems a scarcely ideal outcome, at least on the face of it.
Yet, the men's hockey competition at the upcoming Olympic Games may well be one of the most open in recent times with no clear favorites emerging following the long and gruelling Pro League tournament.
Indian men's hockey team SWOT Analysis
A fascinating scenario has thus emerged ahead of the 12-team Olympic competition where the Indians have been placed in a formidable pool.
Let's delve into what lies in store for Craig Fulton's side, the biggest hurdles they can expect to encounter and a seemingly weak link that may, possibly, be exploited in Paris 2024 with SWOT analysis of the Indian men's hockey team.
Strengths
A plethora of talent that has risen through the ranks on the big stage has meant that the Indians have never been short of young blood while the experience of Manpreet Singh and Lalit Upadhyay can always be counted upon when required.
The Indian men's hockey team, who developed a reputation of being one of the fastest counterattacking sides in world hockey ahead of the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, have lived up to the billing for the most part.
Abhishek's ability to split open the opposition defense, Mandeep Singh's poaching skills and Lalit Upadhyay's sublime stickwork present serious challenges for the best defensive units in the business.
Harmanpreet Singh's composure in defense in addition to his world-class drag-flicking skills gives the Indian team a distinct edge. Sreejesh, who announced that the Paris Olympics, will be his last tournament will be keen to be at his very best, making goalscoring quite a challenge for opposing sides.
India's ability to wipe off deficits, seemingly at will, especially in the final quarter essentially means that no team can rest easy against the Men in Blue even with a two-goal advantage.
Weaknesses
The Indians who once boasted an incredible four-man penalty corner battery, comprising Rupinder Pal Singh, Varun Kumar, Amit Rohidas, and Harmanpreet Singh now seem over-reliant on their captain for the set pieces.
While Rupinder bid adieu to the game after the Tokyo Olympics, Varun Kumar has ceased to be a regular member of the side. Amit Rohidas does try his hand at the penalty corners on occasion with limited success leaving Harmanpreet Singh overburdened with sometimes unrealistic expectations.
Harmanpreet's incredible 18-goal hauls in back-to-back Pro League competitions in 2021-22 and 2022-23 put him in the same league as Alexander Hendrickx of Belgium and Blake Govers of Australia.
But the Aussies have Jeremy Hayward to fall back on for the short corners when Govers isn't on the pitch, while Belgium have the formidable duo of Loick Luypaert and Tom Boon to bank on when Hendrickx isn't firing them in.
The Indians appear to lack a strong and consistent backup option when it comes to penalty corners even as Indian hockey fans wish fervently that Harmanpreet Singh delivers on the biggest stage one more time.
The eight-time gold medalists who won just five of their 16 matches in the Hockey Pro League (with six drawn games) have dropped to the seventh position in the FIH rankings - their lowest in recent times.
The Indians will need to come up with a vastly improved performance in the Olympics knowing that the other top sides will save their best for the biggest stage of all.
Opportunities
While the Indian men appear to have been placed in the tougher of the two pools, comprising Pro League champions Australia and defending champions Belgium, the recent form of the Red Lions may offer respite.
Belgium who established themselves at the pinnacle of world hockey with an Olympic silver in 2016 followed by gold in 2021 in addition to the World Cup win in 2018 have not been at their menacing best during the Hockey Pro League.
After sending a development side to Argentina early in the competition, a near-full-strength Belgian team inexplicably lost to Ireland with scorelines reading 2-1 and 4-1 in favour of the Irish.
The Belgians subsequently registered 7 wins and an equal number of losses in 16 matches finishing fifth in the Hockey Pro League competition.
Whether or not the Belgians strike peak form in Paris remains to be seen although the Indians themselves did not benefit much from the slump of the Red Lions in the Pro League going down 1-4 in the first game before managing a 2-2 draw.
Threats
While the Indian men's hockey team have their sights set on a podium finish at the Paris Games, the think-tank will be more than aware that a stuttering start could prove disastrous.
India did not have the opportunity to play New Zealand in the Hockey Pro League - the side that knocked them out of last year's home World Cup.
The Indians play New Zealand in their Olympic opener and anything less than a win could land them in trouble.
A last-minute goal from Gurjant Singh helped India beat the Irish by a narrow 1-0 margin in a Pro League encounter in Bhubaneswar earlier this year before the hosts came into their own in the second game winning 4-0.
Ireland will therefore be no pushovers despite being the second-lowest-ranked side in the competition (11th on the FIH list).
Experts have pointed out that being in the tougher pool will play to India's advantage given that Fulton's team will not have to take on Australia or Belgium in a knock-out situation in the quarter-finals.
But if the Indians falter in their opening games against New Zealand, Argentina or Ireland and are left in a must-win situation in two back-to-back matches against Belgium and Australia it would in fact be equivalent to a knock-out situation.
Indian hockey fans will therefore be hoping that the team put themselves in a strong position ahead of their two final pool games against Belgium and Australia to ensure a smooth passage to the quarter-finals.
Finishing amongst the top two will also be important if India wants to avoid the Netherlands in the quarter-finals, considering Group A plays out as per the FIH rankings.
