Sports
Indian hockey players shine in Champions Trophy
Bhubaneswar: India may not have finished on the podium in the hockey Champions Trophy, but the Indian players displayed tremendous skills throughout the eight-nation tournament with four of them bagging individual awards.
India, who finished fourth, went down 1-2 to Australia in the bronze medal match at the Kalinga Stadium Sunday. Germany beat Pakistan 2-0 to lift the trophy for the 10th time.
However, Indian vice-captain P.R. Sreejesh, who stood like a wall in the Indian goal, was awarded ‘Best Goalkeeper of the Tournament’, while senior striker S.V. Sunil walked away with the “Most energetic Player of the Tournament’ award.
Indian captain Sardar Singh, who played a stellar role in wins over the Netherlands and Belgium, was a favourite with the fans and the centre-half got their favour with the ‘Fan’s Choice’ award.
Young striker Akashdeep Singh, who made his presence felt in the meet, bagged the ‘Best Junior Player of the Tournament’ award.
“Our players played well in the tournament. As a result, we finished fourth. We really made progress playing against the world’s best seven teams. Now, we will have to work hard for the Olympics and the World Cup,” said India’s high performance director and interim chief coach Roelant Oltmans.
German co-captain Moritz Furste was adjudged ‘Best Player of the Tournament’ while Dutch star striker Jeroen Herztberger scored the maximum number of goals.
A total of 107 goals were scored in 24 matches, which included an incredible 29 in the four games on the second day of the competition while the tournament average was 4.46 goals per game, according to the International Hockey Federation (FIH).
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Sunil Gavaskar gives his opinion of GT allrounder Rahul Tewatia
The left-handed batsman from Haryana is garnering praise from all quarters for the way he’s finishing games regularly in the most exciting IPL season.
Gavaskar reckons Tewatia’s whirlwind knock in Sharjah (in IPL 2020) where he smashed West Indies pacer Sheldon Cottrell for five sixes in an over, gave him the confidence that he belongs to the big stage.
Speaking on Cricket Live on Star Sports, Gavaskar said, “That assault on Sheldon Cottrell in Sharjah gave him the belief to do the impossible and the confidence that he belongs here. We saw the impossible (he did with the bat) the other day as well. There’s no twitching or touching the pads (which shows a batter’s nervousness) when he bats in the death overs. He just waits for the ball to be delivered and plays his shots. He’s got all the shots in the book, but most importantly his temperament to stay cool in a crisis is brilliant.”
Gavaskar has also nicknamed the 28-year-old cricketer the ‘ice-man’ and lauded Tewatia’s ability to remain unruffled during the tense moments.