Gold and pride at stake for hockey squad

“I think we have a huge task ahead of us,” coach Rajinder Singh said the as the team trained at the stadium today. “The Asian Games gold medal is presitigious but we also need to play well. We need to put our talent into right places for positive results,” he said.

The Indian team, which won the gold in the previous edition at Bangkok in 1998, are placed in group a along with South Korea, runners-up at Bangkok, and Japan, while the other Asian powerhouse Pakistan, Malaysia, China and Bangladesh are in group B.

In the other two matches tomorrow, Korea face Japan while Pakistan take on China in Group B.

Rajinder Singh knows that to dream early could be disastrous and the loose ends that existed in the Champions Trophy have to be tied up. Holding on to winning positions till the hooter will beone area that demands immediate attention. The Indians conceded goals in closing stages of the games to either lose or allow the opponents to draw in the Champions Trophy. In the bronze-medal match against Paksitan, India let slip a 3-1 advantage with 14 minutes to go and lost 3-4.

However, Rajinder Singh said that defeat was behind the team and the players were looking forward to the challeges ahead. “That loss (against Pakistan at Cologne) is behind us butwe have learnt our lessons… We are not worried about any particular team or about the draw. We will take things match by match,” the coach said.

That gold at Bangkok and the Prime Minister’s Gold Cup in Dhaka last year are the only international wins India have registered since winning the World Cup in Kuala Lumpur in 1975.