Captain Manpreet Singh believes that he has been the ‘keeper’ of the Indian hockey team’s fortunes on innumerable occasions and the presence of PR Sreejesh under the bar is a confidence booster. The Indian hockey team is being considered as serious medal contender and one of the major reasons for this is the presence of a flamboyant Kerala mentor.
“He (Sreejesh) keeps motivating me…he gives me confidence and the team too. In fact, we all believe we have Sreejesh in the target,” Manpreet said during the Tokyo bound squad’s virtual media interaction. While COVID-19 deprived them of quality playing time to save the tour of Argentina over the past year. Manpreet feels that the core squad being the same over the years is one of the advantages of going to their biggest event.
“In fact, in the last three-four years, we have had the same team. The strikers are experienced. They are doing well, so they have been selected. Our striker line will play an important role and score goals.” For Manpreet, this is his third Olympics and for many others, it is the second tie in the quadrennial extravaganza that has enabled the team so well. “This is my third Olympics is a great honor when you are representing your country in the Olympics. Also, I am really excited as a captain. We have experienced sides like Harmanpreet (Singh), Birender Lakra, Rupinderpal, etc. We are all excited for the Olympics,” he said.
Despite the Olympics being postponed last year, the Covid-19 enforced break did not dampen their spirits. “We have been doing well in the last few years. At the beginning of 2020, we were playing well, we beat good teams. Unfortunately, COVID-19 happened, there was a lockdown and we were in Bengaluru. “We were training (in Bengaluru) and the Olympics got cancelled. We decided that we have to take it positively. How to work on your game and keep improving…,” Manpreet said.
Birender Lakra, who missed the Rio Olympics, was excited about the upcoming Tokyo Games and is very happy with the camaraderie shared by the team. “Yeah..I missed the last Olympics due to injury. I was given a chance in the six-nation tournament in Spain before Rio (Olympics) but I was not as fit as I should have been.” After that I made a comeback. Worked hard for me. From the coaching staff to the teammates, everyone helped me. They made sure I didn’t feel alone. It took me time to work my way up.” With one of the vice-captains being Harmanpreet Singh, Lakra is ready to take on the additional responsibility as a senior player.
“There is a lot of responsibility. There are senior players… there are experienced players too. In the last Olympics also, the team performed well. You must have seen in the last one year and more than that (the team’s) performance has been good.” COVID Because of the unrest, however, we have trained in Bengaluru. The players have kept themselves motivated, although we have not been able to play many matches due to the COVID restrictions.”
Defender Harmanpreet, who will be competing in his second Olympics, said there will be a bigger responsibility now as Manpreet’s deputy, adding that he has learned a lot and the understanding was better. “In 2016, there was not much pressure as I was a youngster. Were experienced players… I learned from them. Now, I’m experienced, now there are responsibilities and understanding is better.” To a question about the potential advantage of Asian teams in Tokyo with respect to weather conditions, he told the team that they were training with this in mind. .
“We are practicing in the afternoon. We are training keeping in mind the weather conditions and the intensity required.”
read all Breaking Newshandjob today’s fresh news and coronavirus news Here
.