Phir hockey ko dil do

 The time has probably come when we agree with ‘Phir hockey ko dil do’. India qualified for London Olympics and how! After a wait of eight long years, the Indian hockey team has made it to the London Olympics to be held this year, beating France by 8-1 on Sunday.

Goal Scorers of the Tournament from INDIAN Team

18th Feb          India def Singapore 15-1

19th Feb          India def Italy 8-1

21st Feb          India def France 6-2

22nd Feb         India def Canada 3-2

24th Feb          India def Poland 4-2

26th Feb          India def France 8-1

The win has not only got India’s hockey team its pride back, but has also various State governments and organisations loosening their pockets to award the players. Madhya Pradesh has announced cash awards of Rs 1 lakh each player. Bhupinder Singh Hooda, chief minister of Haryana has declared cash rewards for players who helped India into London Olympics.

Hooda has announced cash reward of Rs 5 lakh per goal scored by each player from Haryana in the final match. Also, the State will give Rs 1 lakh per goal scored by players from Haryana in other matches. Every player from Haryana will get Rs 11 lakh, while Rs 2.5 lakh will be awarded to each player of the Indian team, whichever State he may belong to.

Indian hockey players are getting a small part of the appreciation that the Indian cricket team usually gets. However, one never knows, even a little bit of encouragement and appreciation may motivate them to get home gold!

Highest Scorer in the tournament is Sandeep Singh with 16 goals

Sandeep Singh amassed 16 goals in 6 matches of the event to lead India to the Olympics 2012 in London. Shivendra of India scored 7 goals. Sandeep and Genestet scored 5 goals in a match, while there were 6 hat tricks hit during the event