The Hindu : Sport / Hockey : The team was impressive: Harendra Singh

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Wednesday, Jul 13, 2005

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The team was impressive: Harendra Singh

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Defending champion India may have finished fourth in the World junior hockey championship, but coach Harendra Singh emphasised that there was no need to hit the panic button and that the future of Indian hockey was secure.

On his return from Rotterdam this morning, coach Harendra said that the team had worked hard but had to pay for some silly errors, especially in the second half of the last two matches. He was categorical in saying that the disallowed goal in the bronze medal match was nothing in comparison to the manner in which the umpiring decisions went against the Indian team in the semifinals, when it lost 2-3 against Australia after having led 2-0 at halftime.

"There is no point protesting at the umpiring decisions. Nothing comes out of that. But, it is high time something was done about it," said the coach.

Quickly owning responsibility for the team's performance, the coach said that he honestly believed that the team would be in the final. He said that he was satisfied with the quality of hockey displayed by the team and that he was only disappointed with the results.

"You can ask all the leading coaches who were assembled there, and they were all impressed with the Indian team, as it played like an Indian team," he said.

Maturity needed

"The left pocket needs to be worked on, not just in junior hockey. Some of the players lacked the maturity and ended up making errors," observed the coach.

Countering the argument about the Indian team having been outplayed in the 4-0 loss to Spain in super league phase, the coach pointed out that every team including the eventual champion Argentina had lost a match on the way.

"To have played six matches in nine days was tough, both physically and mentally. The coaches have made the game so fast that some of the teams were cramping the second day. It was an under-21 tournament and it was difficult for players to maintain peak physical fitness for such a long spell," he stressed.

Looking at the positive side, Harendra Singh appreciated the team's resilience in bouncing back from the setback of a shattering defeat to record two wins against England and Korea to top the pool.

"To me, that was the high point of the tournament. Generally, when Indian teams start losing, the trend continues and they end up ninth or tenth. This team showed a lot of character and fighting spirit in winning two matches and topping the group. The boys were under tremendous pressure, and did not deserve the added pressure from the umpires," he said.

Summing up, Harendra Singh said all that was required was a bit of fine tuning and added that the players needed to believe in their skill and ability, as he signed off, wishing the lads good luck for a memorable career in the game.

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