Allgemeines » Ervin after the 35-year-old po

Four years ago when Neil Hawgood took charge as the chief coach of the Indian womens national hockey team, he had set a target for his side, then ranked fourth in Asia.I said that our goal would be to become the best side in Asia. That would be the clearest way to show we have made progress. Tomorrow we will get a chance to be just that. We have the chance to hold the Asian Champions Trophy,?Hagwood said from Singapore, where India made the final of the Asian Champions Trophy despite a 3-2 defeat to China in the last group game.?As the team gears up to play China once again, here are four takeaways from Indias run to the final.Self beliefIndia have played the Asian Champions Trophy final before. In 2013, they lost 1-0 to Japan. That scoreline masked the actual gulf between the two sides with goalkeeper Savita Punia having a great game. We were a goal down within seven minutes and we never really looked like we would cover that gap, Hawgood recalls of that game.That has changed in the 2016 edition. India were trailing 1-0 against South Korea before recovering to win 2-1. Against China, the side leveled from 2-0 down before China scored the winner from a penalty corner with just over two minutes to go. The girls showed plenty of character to keep pressing despite trailing. They have a lot more self belief that they can fight back than they once did, Hawgood says.Targeting consistency?While India made the final, it was apparent that they could have maintained an unbeaten run going into Saturdays game. I was really frustrated, Hawgood admits.India had done well against China to recover from 2-0 down through a penalty corner conversion from Poonam Rani and a field goal from captain Vandana Kataria in the space of three minutes late in the game. Then, in an effort to run down the clock, defender Sunita Lakra tried to shoot long along the sidelines instead of finding a teammate. A turnover was conceded and in the subsequent run of play, China scored the winner. Lakras brain-freeze following a phase where her side had dominated had been symptomatic of Indias run so far in the tournament.We are chasing consistency. We still havent been able to string together four good quarters. We started well, then had a bad patch. We then managed to play eight or nine minutes of really good hockey but then we gave it away in the final few minutes.Missed chancesLakras mistake shouldnt have been as costly as it turned out to be. Before Poonam scored off a penalty corner in the 50th minute, India had won six, missing all. Captain Katariya admitted as much. We had to work a lot harder than we should have. We had a lot of chances and we missed a lot of them. We cant do that in the final, she said.Edge in experienceKatariya will know that India have a very strong chance in the final against the same opponents. While there are world ranking points up for grabs at the Asian Champions Trophy, China, perhaps keeping next months Junior World Cup in mind, have sent essentially their junior squad for the tournament with no player older than 21 in their team.While India are missing senior players themselves, most notably former skipper Sushila Chanu, they have the clear edge in experience. Coach Hawgood remains cautious however. This is a young Chinese team but it remains a very strong squad. This is after all the same squad to have beaten Netherlands (at the Volvo U-21 tournament last year). We are probably seeing the future of the Chinese team in this tournament. Rangers Jerseys China . 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Rivers threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to rookie Keenan Allen and Nick Novak kicked four field goals to give the Chargers a 19-9 victory against the Colts on Monday night. RIO DE JANEIRO -- Katie Ledecky is racing herself in the 400-meter freestyle.Yulia Efimova and the U.S. mens relay team are just glad to have a shot at a medal.Coming back after anchoring the Americans to a relay silver on the opening day of swimming, Ledecky nearly broke her own world record in the preliminaries Sunday, setting herself up as the overwhelming favorite to capture her first gold medal of the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.Ledecky posted a time of 3 minutes, 58.71 seconds, actually backing off a bit on the closing lap to conserve energy for the late-night final. She just missed her mark of 3:58.37 set in 2014.No one is even close to Ledecky. The next-fastest qualifier was Britains Jazz Carlin, who was more than 4 seconds behind.Thats the easiest its felt to go under 4 minutes, Ledecky said, barely breathing hard. So that bodes well for tonight.Efimova heard a smattering of boos at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium after winning her heat, having only been cleared to compete days before the games.Revelations of a state-sponsored doping system in her native Russia led to Efimova being banned from Rio because of a previous 16-month suspension for doping, not to mention another positive test this year for the now-banned substance meldonium. That result was placed on hold while world anti-doping officials conduct further studies on the drug.After appealing their penalties, Efimova and up to six other Russian swimmers were quietly approved to compete in Rio. She posted the second-fastest time in the preliminaries at 1:05.79, just one-hundredth of a second behind American Lilly King.Stopping briefly in the mixed zone, the reigning world champion answered a single question from The Associated Press.Well, I dont know what to say, Efimova said, smiling and shrugging her shoulders. I mean, I was crazy the last half-year and just dont understand whats going on and everything. Im just happy to be here and Im ready to race.When pressed on criiticism from rival swimmers and coaches, she smiled and walked away.ddddddddddddMeanwhile, the Americans made up for a debacle at last years world championships by easily qualifying for the final of the mens 4x100 freestyle relay.The team of Jimmy Feigen, Ryan Held, Blake Pieroni and Anthony Ervin posted the second-fastest time in the prelims at 3:12.38.Russia was the top qualifier at 3:12.04, setting up what figures to be a thrilling, four-country fight for the gold medal. Australia and defending Olympic champion France are also in the mix after qualifying third and fourth.Now, the real fun begins as the countries break out their big guns for the evening final. The U.S. figures to come back with Nathan Adrian, Caeleb Dressel and 18-time gold medalist Michael Phelps, who could be joined by Ervin after the 35-year-old posted the fastest individual time in the prelims (47.65).Australia rested up Cameron McEvoy, France has Florent Manaudou in reserve, while Russia can turn to Vladimir Morozov -- another of the doping-tainted swimmers given last-minute approval to compete in Rio.The U.S. didnt even qualify for the final of the 4x100 free relay last year at the worlds in Kazan, an embarrassing setback for the worlds most dominant swimming nation.Thats ancient history, man, Ervin said.Assuming Phelps joins the relay for the final, as hes done at the last three Olympics, hell have a good shot to add to his already staggering haul of 18 golds and 22 medals overall.In other preliminaries, Kathleen Baker of the U.S. was fastest in the womens 100 backstroke, Chinas Sun Yang led the way in the mens 200 freestyle and Camille Lacourt of France set the pace in the mens 100 back.---Follow Paul Newberry on Twitter at www.twitter.com/pnewberry1963 . His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/paul-newberry . ' ' '