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CWG 2022: Lacked energy to beat Australia, says Indian men's hockey coach Reid

An angry Indian men's hockey team coach Graham Reid lashed out at his wards for their disastrous showing in the Commonwealth Games 2022 final, saying they lacked the energy and application required to upstage mighty Australia.

CWG 2022: Lacked energy to beat Australia, says Indian men's hockey coach Reid snt
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Birmingham, First Published Aug 9, 2022, 2:36 PM IST

Indian men's hockey coach Graham Reid was furious with his team after their terrible performance in the Commonwealth Games 2022 championship game and pointed out his wards' lack of drive and commitment necessary to defeat powerhouse Australia.

India put on one of its worst performances in recent memory as the defending champions humiliated them 0-7, forcing them to settle for the silver medal. Australia extended their dominance at the CWG stage and won their eighth consecutive gold by overwhelming India with their lightning-quick pace and unrelenting attacks.

Also read: CWG 2022: India settle for silver after 0-7 drubbing against Australia in men's hockey final

"There is a thing called energy, and I don't think we had that today," Reid told PTI after the match. 

"When you play Australia this can happen sometimes. But I'm disappointed we didn't play well at all. We let ourselves down and all the things we talked about we didn't do. It's disappointing," he added.

CWG 2022: Lacked energy to beat Australia, says Indian men's hockey coach Reid snt

India, therefore, suffered its third CWG final defeat to Australia following Glasgow 2014 and New Delhi 2010. The terrible loss also brought India's 1-7 humiliation by the top team in the world in their pool match at the Tokyo Olympics the previous year. Reid speculated that perhaps they were intimidated by the environment. The gap would have been worse if not for seasoned goalie PR Sreejesh.

"We could not get pressure out of the ball today. We needed to do that. We talk about getting in front of the day. Pressure will always be there on the big stage. It's never away. Who knows what history is in store? It's hard to gauge. I told them that the most important thing was to play our best and the result would look after itself. As I said, we have got a lot of work to do," Reid said.

Also read: CWG 2022: India finish 4th with 22 gold, 16 silver and 23 bronze medals; here's a list of winners

Reid, himself an Australian, knows what it takes to beat his home country in a big match. "At the end, it boils down to winning the one-on-one battle, and we didn't win that today. If you want to win a final, that's what you have to do. You have to win every single battle." 

(With inputs from PTI)

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