Last Update: January 12, 2023, 22:43 IST
MM Somaiya, Edgar Mascarenhas and Adrian D’Souza (IANS)
With India playing at home and the amount of time the players have spent together as a team, Indian hockey stalwarts feel the 16-team event in Rourkela and Bhubaneswar will be a great competition for India. It is a great opportunity to end the medal drought.
Five among them have experience of playing hockey World cup and thus former India Captain MM Somaiya, Edgar Mascarenhas and Adrian D’Souza feel that the upcoming edition of the mega event, starting in Rourkela from Friday, is a big opportunity for India to end its four-decade medal drought in the mega event.
Somaya has played in two World Cups, Mascarenhas in Pakistan in 1990 and D’Souza in the 2006 and 2010 editions. But all three feel that with India playing at home and the amount of time the players have spent together as a team, the 16-team competition to be held in Rourkela and Bhubaneswar is a great opportunity for them.
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“It is a great opportunity for the Indian team as we are not sure when we will host the World Cup again. The players have been together in the camp since the COVID-19 pandemic. India won a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics – a medal after four decades, and we have a good team,” said Somaya, a member of India’s last gold-winning team at the Olympics in 1980.
“Based on some indicators – we are ranked sixth in the world, a settled side – and looking at how we have performed in tournaments after the Olympics – we have done quite well – I believe India have a good chance of finishing on the podium,” Somaya said at an event organized Play The Mumbai Journalists’ Association joins Mascarenhas and D’Souza to analyze India’s chances in the World Cup starting on Friday.
“I think another reason why I think we’ve got a good chance is that most of the other teams are either rebuilding or have old players – like in the case of Belgium. Australia and India are the only teams that have There is a balance of youth and experience. So, this is a great opportunity for us. We might not get such a batch for the next few years.”
Adrian D’Souza felt that the Indian team should not settle for less than a gold medal. He talked about some coach Graham Reid’s tactics like changing the goalkeeper after every quarter and felt that the move has its merits and demerits as the goalkeeper can lose the adrenaline rush if he is replaced even after some sensational saves. Is.
Along with Harmanpreet and Manpreet Singh, D’Souza picked goalkeeper PR Sreejesh, his teammate at the 2010 World Cup, as the key player for India. Somaya said the team management has done well by bringing in young players like Abhishek, Sukhjeet and Jarmanpreet Singh after the Olympics.
Edgar Mascarenhas noted the improved fitness of the team in recent times and noted the good work done by the backroom staff.
Mascarenhas said, “India will be among the semi-finalists.”
Somaya said that the Indian team is in a tough group with Spain, England and Wales as their rivals. Both Somaya and D’Souza said the current format was easier than the old system as teams could still recover from setbacks and make it to the quarter-finals through crossover matches.
“Earlier, if you lost a few matches, your chances of making it to the knockout stage were just as good. But in this new system, you can still finish third in the group and still manage to reach the quarterfinals via crossover. It gives a chance to recover from a bad start.”
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)