‘Today Asia, tomorrow the world’

• A remarkable year for Indian hockey…
Yes, it was. We have never had it so good, certainly not in the past few years. We are beginning to regain lost glory, we are winning regularly now. Credit for this should go to our coaches and the federation who have shown full faith in us.

• Defeating Pakistan in three matches on the trot must have been special
Nothing can match the joy of defeating Pakistan. Nobody wants us to lose against them and it is always a do-or-die battle for us. There was a lot of pressure on us in Hyderabad, since seniors like Dhanraj (Pillay), (Baljit) Dhillon and (Baljit) Saini were not around this time and we were playing an international tournament final in front of a home crowd after many years. But that doesn’t mean that our morale was down by any standards. Each one of us had vowed to fly the flag and I’m glad we did exactly that.

• Do you see Indians as a serious contender for Olympic gold?
Certainly. I believe all these victories this season have set the stage for the Olympics. We are the best in Asia now and, I feel, will soon be the best in the world. Unlike the past, when our team used to perform badly in the absence of seniors, we have more options now. Youngsters like Harpal, Sandeep Michael and Arjun Halappa have proved themselves as good players.

• Which are the areas still needing improvement?

We have to improve our tactics when going ‘full press’, as they say in hockey, when you go all-out in opposition territory. Also, penalty-corner conversion is something on which we can always work on.