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Journalism of Courage
Boasting of four Olympians in their ranks, defending champions India wear the tag of favourites to win the Rabobank Junior Men’s World Cup hockey tournament.
The Indians received a shot in the arm a couple of weeks earlier when they convincingly won a four-nation tournament that included the Netherlands, Spain and Chile, and coach Harendra Singh is optimistic of his team’s chances.
‘‘The four-nation event in Bilbao, Spain, was a heaven sent opportunity for us. At least our players received some good match practice ahead of the World Cup after our training camp in Hyderabad,’’ he said on the eve of India’s opener against Egypt in the tournament.
Apart from the four Olympians — skipper and goalkeeper Adrian D’Souza, defenders Sandeep Singh and William Xalco and forward Adam Sinclair — others with international experience at the senior level include half-backs V S Vinay and Vivek Gupta, and forwards Tushar Khandekar and Hari Prasad, who were part of the team for the 2004 Champions Trophy.
But while Indians are not short on experience, considering the length of the tournament, it might boil down to a team’s staying power as much as inherent skills. And that is where the coach feels his team has really improved, thanks to the week-long training camp in Frankfurt, Germany, after the four-nation meet.
India are clubbed with the Netherlands, Poland and Egypt in Pool D for the preliminary league. Three teams from each of the four pools will move into the next round, to be divided into into two groups of six each while carrying forward the points earned.
In the second round, teams will play opponents whom they had not met in the previous phase. The two top teams from each group will advance to the knock-out semifinals.
Pool A: Spain, England, Korea, Mexico.
Pool B: Germany, Argentina, South Africa, Malaysia.
Pool C: Australia, Pakistan, Belgium, Chile.
Pool D: India, the Netherlands, Poland, Egypt.
