KARACHI: India Coach Michael Nobbs had apologised to the hockey fans of the country, saying the players had let the nation down with their trite play as the team faced to its fourth successive defeat Sunday in the Olympic competition.
“It's tough, because there is an expectation of your senior players. You don't get many chances like this in a lifetime,” said Nobbs.
“You have to give it everything you possibly can, because it's not often you get to play for your country and at the Olympic games.”
“There’s no excuse. There's nothing more we can do as coaches, we're not out there on the field. The players have to perform, and they have been performing throughout the year,” he added.
“They've let themselves down, they've let us down, and they've let the Indian people down too, and I apologize for that because it's something we've got to fix. What's coming is a lot of hard work and a lot of pain,” he further said.
Memories of the bottom-place finish at the 1986 World Cup here returned to haunt the eight-time Champions Indian hockey team, who will now have to lift their game to avert the wooden spoon at the London Olympics.
India, who plays Belgium in their final Pool B fixture on Tuesday, will finish last in the group irrespective of the result of this match and will then have to play the bottom-place team in the other pool in the playoff for the 11th and 12th positions.
India are the only team not to have secured a point so far in the ongoing Olympic Games hockey competition, while all others in their group have four points or more.
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