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Olympic hockey begins without India |
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Beijing Olympic | Written by TNC Beuro | Tuesday, 12 August 2008 |
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When Beijing woke up on Monday for another action-packed day, a modern day Olympic myth lay in tatters as for the first time since 1928, men's hockey event did not feature India. Germany took on hosts China in the tournament opener on Monday and the Indian flag could not be fluttering at the Olympic Green Hockey Centre.
A nation, which once made winning Olympic gold medals a quadrennial habit, could now only watch from distance and try to come to terms with the fact that India, the spiritual home of the game, is just not good enough to compete in Olympics, let alone winning medals. Not that India's absence went unnoticed. Section of the Chinese media wondered at Indian hockey's riches-to-rag story and how it takes some sheen of the event.
International Hockey Federation (FIH) President Els van Breda Vriesman has also sympathized with India, but she also hinted that they reaped just what they had sowed. "No one wanted India to see India out of the Olympics but the reality is that the best 12 nations have qualified for Beijing," she said before the Games began.
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