With India taking on Spain in their first game of the FIH Men’s Hockey World Cup campaign on Friday, Indian skipper Harmanpreet Singh said the big tournament comes once in every four years and would have been able to play in front of a home crowd in the home country. Is. And the conditions are a great opportunity for the team. The Men’s Hockey World Cup will begin in Odisha from January 13. India have been placed in Pool D along with England, Wales and Spain. Team India India will open their campaign against Spain on Friday at the Birsa Munda International Hockey Stadium in Rourkela.
In the pre-match press conference, the captain said, “The World Cup comes once in every four years. It is a good opportunity for the team to play at home with the support of their home crowd.”
“We plan to continue what we have been doing well. We have read and analyzed our opponents very well in the team meeting. We have worked on mistakes made earlier,” he said.
The skipper lauded the Birsa Munda International Hockey Stadium built to host the tournament and said it was one of the “best” venues he has seen in his career and many in his team share the same opinion.
Come take some passion,
Where is India,
Hockey hai dil mera,
Hockey is my heart.Best wishes to Captain Harmanpreet Singh, Manpreet, Sreejesh PR Anna, Lalit, Neelkanth, Akashdeep, Jarmanpreet, Coach Graham Reid and everyone involved in this beautiful celebration. pic.twitter.com/Kqvz0ToOAu
— Abhishek Mishra (@acrodemys) January 12, 2023
Harmanpreet said, “Both the stadium and the atmosphere are great. We are very excited. We got the advantage of practicing here before others as we are the home team and we are really excited to see the home crowd.”
The skipper said that most of his team’s matches take place in the evening and his team has practiced accordingly. On the expectations from him as a drag-flicker, Harmanpreet said that hockey is a team game.
The skipper said, “The others are there to support us. We have other good drag-flickers as well.”
Harmanpreet said that the home crowd will turn up in large numbers to cheer them but the team will have to maintain their focus. Indian team Head coach Graham Reid also lauded the facilities and infrastructure put in place in the state for the tournament.
“The stadium is incredible. The facilities are world class, look at the changing rooms, then you come to the turf and the field, which is great. What has been achieved in the last 15 months is incredible. We are happy with the pitch, It is not very different from Bhubaneswar. There are some senior players like PR Sreejesh, who is playing his fourth World Cup and this is his third at home. We came here on 27th December and are training in the World Cup village. The boys Excited and ready to go,” the coach said.
The coach said that the support of the home crowd is a double-edged sword as it feels good, but you also need to maintain focus and stick to strategies. The Men’s Hockey World Cup 2023 will be held from January 13 to January 29. India will be hoping to achieve a podium position this time around after reaching the quarter-finals in the 2018 edition of the tournament, where they lost to the Netherlands.