CHENNAI: Former India hockey captain Viren Rasquinha reckons that the current side is up there with the very best, but suffers a bit because of inconsistency. “I think we are up there with the very best, but our main problem is that we lack consistency,” he said at an Olympic Gold Quest-related event in the city.
Rasquinha, who is the CEO of OGQ, gave his thumbs up for India’s third-place finish at the Hockey World League Final, but opined that there was scope for improvement. “When you are speaking about the result (bronze), it was very good. But when you take into account the performance, there’s lots to improve.
“We played six matches in Bhubaneswar and we won only one in regulation time, that too against a 11-man Germany team. We did well at the Asia Cup, but we were expected to win. We were the favourites in Bangladesh. I think there has to be more self-belief to close out matches.”
The 37-year-old, who was one of the eight members who worked on the Olympic Task Force, a government project focussed on building a roadmap for the next three Olympics from 2020, said the centre is in the process of implementing a few of the suggestions put forth by the body. “We submitted our report to the PMO a few months ago, and they are in the process of rolling out a few of our suggestions.”
Some of those include giving scholarships for up to a 1,000 athletes, putting in place CEOs for all federations, and so on. “Some of the suggestions will be rolled out in a phase-wise manner. It’s up to the government to decide what suggestions to implement. The ball is in their court now.”
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