The elevation of Arjun Halappa as the skipper of the Malaysiabound Indian hockey team has boosted the Bangalorean’s confidence. With 230 international caps, Halappa will spearhead the Indian team at the Sultan Azlan Shah hockey tournament.
The midfield maestro admits that there is no added pressure of his new role and will look to do well in the 10-day Ipoh bash staring from May 5. The 30-yearold Coorg lad is not ready to let expectations rule over the players performance.
“There is no added pressure as such. We just want to go out there and play quality hockey and enjoy it. As long as we play good hockey we are not bothered about what people talk about our performance.” “I just want to lead by example,” he said.
India has won the Sultan Azlan Shah tournament four times and were declared joint winners with South Korea in 2010 due to rain. Their last triumph came in 2009 when they defeated hosts Malaysia.
Much has been talked about the team composition with the selectors choosing the best available. This means Halappa has an extra weight to carry besides delivering both as a skipper and a player.
“We have a good balanced side and we should give them enough space and opportunity to prove themselves.
Of-course we have to perform, I am not denying that. But at the moment we should not be distracted but should firmly focus on hockey,” the Olympian said.
The Indian team has been handicapped by the absence of injured Thusar Khandekar and Rajpal Singh while drag-flicker Sandeep Singh and Sardara Singh were not available for the selection as they were playing in Belgium League.
“Our expectation now is to do well and then we will think about winning. I have asked all our players to play their best and not get bogged down by unnecessary expectation,” he said.
Halappa feels Indian team needs to improve the short corner conversion rate and sort out its minor defense lapses to produce a commendable performance.
“We have to improve our short corner conversion.
We committed a lot of silly errors in the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games.
Dragflicker Sandeep is not there but Diwakar Ram and Rupinder Pal Singh are doing good,” he noted.
Halappa, who always delivered under coach Jose Brasa is not missing the Spanish but said the new coach Harendra Singh is following the same lines as his predecessor did.
“Brasa was a great coach but now we have Harendra Singh, who is following the same lies as Brasa did in during his tenure,” he observed.
The team will fly to Ipoh on April 29.
