Indian hockey team at its nadir

The dejected Indian hockey team has completed its Olympic campaign with another loss against South Africa and finished at 12th place. File photo

Indian Hockey team today touched a new low by finishing at the bottom of the competition after being beaten 3-2 by South Africa in the 11-12 place classification match at the Olympic Games in London on Saturday.

This was the sixth straight loss at the Riverbank Arena for the Indian team, who made a return to the Olympics after failing to qualify for the 2008 Games in Beijing.

The previous lowest position that the country had occupied was eighth at the 1996 Atlanta Games.

For South Africa, Andrew Cronje (8th minute), Timothy Drummond (34th) and Lloyd Norris-Jones (65th) sounded the board, while Sandeep Singh (14th) and Dharamvir Singh (67th) scored for India.

India had finished 11th at the 2006 World Cup in Monchengladbach against the same opponents but this time, their South African rivals turned the table.

It was in the capital of Great Britain that the Indian hockey team had clinched the 1948 Olympic gold medal in what was independent India’s first major international sporting achievement.

Thirty-eight years later, when London was the venue of the 1986 World Cup, the Indian team was pushed to the bottom of the 12-team competition, losing the playoff to Pakistan for the last spot.