BENGALURU: There will be an air of confidence when India men’s hockey team board their flight to Jakarta for the upcoming Asian Games. India’s record has been brilliant, winning three golds, nine silvers and two bronze medals in the quadrennial event.
They are one of the favourites to bag gold this time around, and anything short will be considered as a failure.
These expectations have arisen from their recent performances against some of the best in the business. They are playing some quality hockey after Harendra Singh took over as the men’s coach few months ago. They finished second in the prestigious Champions Trophy. They also clinched the New Zealand Test series recently.
Besides these, India’s world ranking of number five, highest among the Asian nations, justifies the expectation. After the 2017 Asia Cup triumph, the Asian Games gives them a great chance to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which can be achieved by clinching gold. If they fail to do so, the route for Olympics gets tougher and India would be keen to avoid that way. “We are just going to play our game. We are the highest-ranked team in the tournament.
But that doesn’t mean we are going to win everything. We need to give our all, then the result will come. Why can’t we think we are fifth (world rankings) and good enough to win. Why think about other routes to qualify? That is added pressure. We have an easy option now. We need to get the ticket to the Olympics. We are focused on this,” Sreejesh said. The team, with impressive performances under their belt of late, looks set.
They have been training rigorously at SAI, Bengaluru under the watchful eyes of the coaching staff, who are trying to improve the team on several quarters including penalty corners, which was a problem in the Champions Trophy with a conversion rate of 9.3 per cent. With around two weeks left for the Asian Games, they have been polishing on various aspects of the game. They do not have much time at their disposal, and are currently in the last stage of their preparations.
After having played against Korea and New Zealand last month, Sreejesh feels that the team is in good shape for the quadrennial event. “The preparations have been good but it needs polishing. When you say polishing, you have to look at all areas. Main areas are penalty corners, attack and defence. The structure is there. We played the New Zealand Test series and then we played the Korean Test series as well. That’s enough to get practice,” added the India captain, who will hope to win his second Asian Games gold after the one he won in Incheon in 2014.
ashim.sunam@newindianexpress.com