The 2020 Tokyo Olympics had to be postponed to 2021 due to the global corona virus pandemic. It is a good thing that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) made the decision to postpone the games as many countries are still struggling to resume day-to-day life let alone sports and entertainment.
India is one of those countries that has suspended all sports and training as the coronavirus epidemic continues to hurt all facets of life in India. At the time of this writing, India is third on the list for the countries that have been most impacted by COVID-19. The Indian field hockey team tried to move to Karnataka to start practicing in July 2020 but had to abandon those plans as Karnataka imposed a sudden lockdown.
Can India Win Gold At 2021 Tokyo Olympics?
The Indian hockey teams for both men and women are eager to begin practicing again as they have their sights on the 2021 Tokyo Olympics that will commence 12 months from now. Indian hockey established itself by winning 8 gold medals at the Olympics over the years and one of those gold medals came in Tokyo at the 1964 Olympics.
It is the dream of every Indian hockey player to win an Olympics gold and Indian captain Manpreet Singh is confident that his squad can pull off a podium finish in Tokyo. Whether it will be a gold, silver or bronze medal will depend on how well the team practices during the next 12 months and how mentally and physically fit they are as they approach the Olympics.
The women’s hockey team is also confident that they have what it takes to win a medal for India. Captain Rani has reason to be confident as her team has won the Olympic Test Event in Japan, the FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifiers Odisha and the FIH Women’s Series Finals Hiroshima 2019.
The positivity and confidence being emitted by the captains is a breath of fresh air and it needs to rub off on every player if India is going to do well at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
India Have Not Won Gold For The Last 40 Years
While India have won 8 eight gold medals over the years, it is important to note that their last gold medal win was back in 1980 at the Moscow Olympic games. The last 40 years, India has not been able to win a gold medal and it speaks volumes.
If you speak to ex-players or hockey pundits you will get a number of reasons as to why the Indian hockey team has struggled at the Olympics. The two main reasons that surface is that the competition has become a lot stronger as other teams have raised their game and left India behind.
