Sardar Singh, who was the vice-captain of Indian hockey team that participated at the London Olympics. He was the only saving grace for team India which finished at number 12th position. He has been honoured with the prestigious Arjuna Award. He speaks to Gaurav Jha of Indian Sports News about what happened to team India in London Olympics, what future has in store for Indian hockey, Arjuna award and much more.

Excerpts:

ISN: First of all tell us what happened to team India in London Olympics?

Sardar: How can I say? We did not play to our potential. We were pretty upbeat about our chances going into the London Olympics. Our preparation looked good but things did not work out for us. It was a disappointment for all the players. We knew that we let our country down as a lot was expected from us.

ISN: What according to you was the reason for India’s poor performance in almost all the matches?

Sardar: According to me the biggest problem that we faced was passing the ball. We did not control the ball well that was very disappointing. Accurate passing is very important and we failed on that front.

ISN: Do you think that we lacked the strategies to do well in Olympics?

Sardar: No I don’t think that there was any problem in the strategy making. We have been playing like that from the past one year and we did play well. We can’t blame the strategy based on one tournament.

ISN: Lot of people are suggesting that there should me massive changes in the team, do you agree with that?

Sardar: Absolutely not. The same team has been doing well from the past one year. We have some class players in the team and the combination worked for us quite well in the past. It is true that our performance at the Olympics was not good. But changing the complete team on the basis of one tournament is not correct.

ISN: The blue turf at the Olympics was a point of discussion. Do you thing that was one of the reasons for Indian team’s poor performance?

Sardar: It will not be right to blame the turf for our performance. The turf did not have any effect on the game. We did not play up to the standards and that was the sole reason why we couldn’t do well in the Olympics.  

ISN: On personal front you will be getting the Arjuna Award. How does it feel?

Sardar: Obviously it feels good. It always feels good to get recognition in the country and I feel honoured that my name has been nominated for such prestigious award.

ISN: What does future holds for Indian hockey?

Sardar: We have a few major tournaments like the Champions Trophy and the World Cup coming up. The team will look to forget what happened at London and we will focus for the challenges coming ahead.

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