Disappointed Hockey India chairman Dilip Tirkey said on Monday that captain Harmanpreet Singh’s “sudden drop in form” was a concern, although the lack of penalty corners was not the only reason for the home side’s shock and early exit from the league. FIH Men’s World Cup. in Bhubaneshwar. India lost to New Zealand in their crossover match in the penalty shootout on Sunday after the two sides were tied 3-3 at the end of regulation time.
Tirkey said any talk of a change of coach and captain is premature as the World Cup is on and India will play in the 9th to 16th standings matches.
“Harmanpreet did very well in the FIH Pro League games and in the (five games) Australia series just before the World Cup. We expected a lot from him, but suddenly getting into shape during the World Cup is a concern.” Tirkey, one of the best penalty cornerers of his time, told PTI in an exclusive interview.
“There are also some up and coming drag flickers on the team. Drag flickers are very important in modern hockey and we will plan accordingly,” added Tirkey, who had a lengthy meeting with the team on Monday.
“Only a year and a half ago we had won bronze at the Olympic Games and it is very disappointing not to reach the quarter-finals of the World Cup.”
Harmanpreet took the most of India’s 26 penalty corners in the four matches, from which the team only scored five goals.
Harmanpreet itself has only converted two PCs.
“Ultimately, as I said before, if we don’t score more goals from penalty corners, we will have problems and that was what happened yesterday,” said Tirkey, a former India captain who has played 412 caps.
“The strong point of the team was scoring from penalty corners. We had high hopes for Harmanpreet. But his flicks were not converted into goals, and we saw that from the first game to the last. Not scoring from the PCs hurt the team a lot Tirkey said India gifted the crossover contest to New Zealand from a winning position.
“We had plenty of chances to win the game against New Zealand. We were 3-1 up and could have done better in the defensive structure. Then in the shootout both of our goalkeepers did very well and gave us chances to to win the match.” But we also missed the chances in the shootout and lost the game.
“Kahi na kahi jita huwa match ko hum unko de diya hey (somehow they got a match we should have won)”, he said.
Harmanpreet could have sealed the match for India with a sudden death, but he squandered the opportunity.
“We played aggressive hockey and we got chances (against New Zealand). We got 10 PCs and we only scored two, we could have scored more,” said Tirkey.
“Some of the players we had high expectations of somehow couldn’t perform. We all accepted it.” Tirkey, one of the best defenders of his generation, was also not pleased with the performance of the home team’s defensive unit, of which Harmanpreet is the stronghold.
“When we talk about our defence, I feel like something was missing in our defensive structure, we could have done better (against New Zealand).
“We also felt the absence of Hardik Singh, he performed very well and his injury hurt us. But we could have won the game with the players we have.” Head coach Graham Reid said on Sunday after the defeat to New Zealand that the team needs a mental conditioning coach, and Tirkey said Hockey India will do the necessary. “Whatever the team needs, we are ready. Whatever the coach and the team needed, Hockey India has taken care of it,” he said.
Asked if there will be any changes in the position of coach or captain, Tirkey said: “We’ll see later. The World Cup is on and any discussion about that is not appropriate.” India will face Japan in their first group stage match at Rourkela on January 26, before taking on an as-yet-unknown opponent on January 28.
Tirkey said the team’s next priority is to do well at the Asian Games, which are scheduled for this year.
“Asian Games are very important to us and that is our priority for the Olympics next year,” he said.
“Some players are off the team because of injury, they will come back. Some players may not have performed well due to the pressure. We will provide the team with a mental conditioning coach and we will see.”
(This story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Featured video of the day
“Root Cause is Dirty Politics”: Sports Activist Amid #MeToo Protests
Topics mentioned in this article