Senior Indian men’s hockey team head coach Graham Reid on Thursday said the junior team should play some practice matches against quality opponents before starting their FIH Junior World Cup title defense in Bhubaneswar next month. Emphasizing on the importance of playing practice games, Reid, who is overseeing India’s preparations for the event to be held from November 25 to December 5, said he would like to arrange a few matches against some of the participating European nations. are trying.
“It is important for us to have some good practice matches in Bhubaneswar so that the players get a feel for the pitch and I am talking to the coaches of some European teams to see if we can play friendly games with them when we reach Bhubaneswar.”
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India were given a relatively easy pool, but Reid, who coached the senior team to a historic bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics, warned the juniors against complacency.
India, which won the last edition of the event in Lucknow in 2016, has been placed in Pool B along with France, Canada and Poland. Reid said players should focus on one match at a time and not think too far ahead.
“No team can be taken lightly in an event like the World Cup. I always tell the players to take it one-on-one and not get ahead of themselves at any point in the tournament until we achieve what we have set out for,” the Australian released by Hockey India. said in a statement.
India will start its campaign against France On November 24, at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, there will be matches against Canada (November 25) and Poland (November 27).
The Indian players are currently training at the SAI center with senior players under the supervision of Reid and junior team coach BJ Cariappa. Cariappa has been with the team since 2017. In front of the showpiece.
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“The good thing about our preparations is that both junior and senior men are housed in the same campus here at SAI, Bengaluru. So, we get to play a lot of internal matches with the senior team and the energy within the group is great and everyone is motivating the other players to perform on a daily basis.
“There are some really talented players in this group with good skills. I believe we are up to the challenge.” Other competing teams in the tournament are Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Egypt, France, Germany, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, Poland, South Africa, Spain, the Netherlands. and United States of america.
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