Dharamveer up for London challenge

With the Indian team leaving for Europe to play two-match Test series in France followed by a three-nation tournament in Santander,Spain,and then shifting to the Olympic Village in London for Olympics,former Chandigarh Hockey and Football Academy trainee Dharamveer Singh is excited about his role as a mid-fielder in the national team.

With the Indian team leaving for Europe to play two-match Test series in France followed by a three-nation tournament in Santander,Spain,and then shifting to the Olympic Village in London for Olympics,former Chandigarh Hockey and Football Academy trainee Dharamveer Singh is excited about his role as a mid-fielder in the national team. The 22-year-old was named in the 16-member Indian hockey team last week for the London Olympics. Meanwhile,the mid-fielder trained hard under coach Michael Nobbs and Physio David John in view of preparing for the mega-event.

Rating the experience as an enriching one,Singh said the upcoming European tour will help him to be in the right frame of mind and hit peak form before the big event at London.”We will be leaving on Sunday morning for Europe tour. The team is all pumped-up and raring to spend close to a month training in Europe. Coach Nobbs had chalked out this plan for us and I am sure that the team will benefit from it. Taking part in the Azlan Shah Tournament was a huge positive for me and I am eager to take more responsibility as a mid-fielder in the team,” shared Singh while speaking with Sportline from Pune,where the Indian team had been training for the past two months.

Singh was away from the game for more than ten months as he suffered a career-threatening knee injury but the youngster made his return in the Indian team in the last month’s Azlan Shah Tournament. A regular in the team before his injury,Singh made his mark under former Indian hockey coach Jose Brasa and was a vital cog in the Indian line-up. “The injury was unfortunate for me. As a hockey player,it is tough to recover from knee injury. But I am happy that I could make a comeback and impress the selectors during the Azlan Shah hockey Tournament in Malaysia. Playing against Asian countries has its own advantage and playing in Europe on Blue Turf will help me handle more pressure and also to adjust according to the weather conditions. We will play two test matches in France next week before playing five matches in the Tri-nation tournament in Santader,Spain,” said Singh.

Also,Singh believes that physio David John has played a major role in making the players fit and the team is benefiting from the Aussie’s experience. “Along with Nobbs,physio David John has been very supportive. He has been spending time with each player and now understands vital points of each player. He told us about the Australian Junior programme and some of us were surprised to know that their junior teams have a full strength physio team working for the core team. He also tells a lot about the Aussie players and it helps us in improving our fitness,” shared Singh.

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