Key dress rehearsal for men’s hockey team ahead of Paris
CHENNAI: Tune up games ahead of big tournaments serve different purposes. It gives a window into the fringe players who could complete the team. It can build up fitness for players coming back from injuries. It allows the management to look at specific areas they want to work in in a competitive environment. Lastly, it gives players the chance to prove to themselves they have it in them to beat a specific opponent.
That last point, according to Manpreet Singh, is what the team will look to do multiple times during a rather crucial five-match series against Australia in Perth from Saturday.
“We have not beaten Australia in a long time and we want to achieve that,” the midfielder told this daily a few days before leaving for the assignment Down Under. In the last 13 matches between the two sides stretching back to the beginning of 2020, India have only managed two wins. Crucially, while India have narrowed the gap between them and the big four of Germany, Australia, Belgium and The Netherlands, wins in the elite events have not really come against these sides.
Since the 2014 World Cup, India have managed one win in 10 encounters against the other members of the Big Four (the bronze medal match against Germany at the Tokyo Games). In that same time period against Australia, they have lost two games for an aggregate score of 1-11 (this gets more pronounced if you want to add Commonwealth Games results).
One readily identifies with Manpreet when he says this tour is going to give the team ‘valuable experience’. “It will be a valuable experience to know their game up and close ahead of Paris,” he said. “When we play against the best teams, naturally, we improve our game and learn as well. We are going with a mindset to beat them.
“There used to be a mental block playing against Australia in the past. In the last few years, there has not been any extra pressure when we are playing against them. If you look at our recent match-ups, the competition has been closer. I think, now the gap that used to exist between the two sides has reduced. The confidence level of all the players now remains the same even when we are playing against Australia.”
The team will also have Paddy Upton around during their Australia trip. Upton, a mental conditioning coach, has worked on and off with the team since coming on board in the middle of last year. When asked to elaborate on the kind of effect Upton has had on the team, Manpreet was effusive in his praise. “We spoke about how we should concentrate on the controllables,” Manpreet said. “He taught us to think step-by-step about our goals and not think about what will happen once we win the medal because these are all distractions and we need to avoid them. He has helped with the small things that make a lot of difference while playing.”
What the team does over the next week or so in Perth will not decide what will happen in Paris in July and August.
Schedule: April 6, April 7, April 10, April 12, April 13.