BENGALURU: After spending the majority of last year in their hostel rooms and the training facilities at Sports Authority of India, Bengaluru without any competitive games, the men’s national hockey team are gradually getting into the groove with some matches under their belt. Late February and early last month, India were involved in a Europe Tour where they played Germany and Great Britain. India are now in Argentina, where they are scheduled to play six matches including four practice and two FIH Pro League this month.
India did come up with an impressive performance in the Europe tour, as they did not lose a single game. Considering that the team had last played an international match against Australia in the Pro League in February 2020, the result was considered quite good. It will be interesting to see if they can come up with similar performances against Olympic champions Argentina with the first practice game scheduled on Tuesday. Former India captain Dhanraj Pillay felt these matches would be of importance with the Olympics just four months away.
“These games are very important in terms of Olympics preparation. First thing is, they are playing against tough teams, and you will also come to know where you stand as well. Secondly, you can also assess your strengths and weaknesses. When they go out for such matches, they can see where they are making mistakes, and also analyse the plus points and see how they can play against stronger teams. From there on, they need to work upon their weakness, and improve,” said Pillay.
India have been pooled alongside teams like Australia, Argentina, Spain, New Zealand and hosts Japan.
Pillay, however, did not want India to think too much ahead and just concentrate on a game-by-game basis with the objective of topping the group. “You need to play game by game (in the Olympics), look for full points from the contest.
India should look at how they are going to top the pool, which they should think first. After that, they can think of the quarterfinals and so on, which is a different ball game altogether,” said Pillay who was in the city as chief guest for the five-a-side Chairos Hockey Cup 2021 final, which was won by Canara Bank here on Sunday. The 52-year-old felt that this shorter hockey format can be played at the nationals in the near future as well.