Day of two halves

Seems like I'm losing track of days and am a little behind but will try to get things back on schedule...yesterday was Tuesday which meant more hockey to see but first some sights and sounds of Delhi, it's handy having the games not starting till 4:30 in the afternoon, means plenty of time to take in the city beforehand.

First up after breakfast was a tut-tut ride south of the city to a more modern temple, the Lotus Template as were calling it (Bahá'í House of Worship is its real name). It was as beautiful inside as it looked from the outside, often compared to the Sidney Opera house for obvious reasons. 


Next it was the Qtab Minar which getting to took a bit more tut-tut negotiation than we've been used to in order to avoid going via someone's handicraft factory, but we stood to your guns and didn't get an unwelcome detour on the way. It was another lovely large piece of monument and templates in an older style and plenty of picture moments as seems to be the case on most of this trip so far.

Then there was the days hockey, England started off the days play against South Africa, a game I expected us to win but we made rather hard work of it and it ended up bit of a sloppy game with lots of goals at 6-4. I'm not sure if it was the heat being first on but England didn't really look up for it, again Hawes was creative in midfield but Mantell too inconsistent at the back, which if we make the later stages of the tournament will get punished.

Next up was Spain vs Pakistan and the less said about this the better, the first half was so dull and uneventful I'm sure I caught my dad dosing off at one point, at least a 2-1 win to Pakistan helps England out.


Then as it seems to always be the last game of the day was the hosts against Australia, local confidence was high after Saturdays win but this time reality struck, the Aussies were simply too strong and India only showed very brief spells of decent play, the 5-2 result being fair.