New Delhi: Indian men’s hockey team is gearing up before the big challenge that awaits them in the form of the Olympic qualifiers. Indian team will play their first match against Singapore on Feb. 18 at National Stadium, New Delhi.
“We are training hard and things are looking good for us. There haven’t been any injury worries and the team is looking fitter than ever. I can say that we are in a good shape to qualify for the upcoming London Olympics”, said Michael Nobbs, Indian coach.
The team claims that they are not bothered about the controversy about some of the senior players who were not picked for the qualifiers. Rajpal Singh is not picked and Arjun Halappa’s name is in the list of standbys.
“We are very positive about the fact that we are going to qualify. We are playing in our home country and the crowd will support us which will be very important for us as by qualifying for the Olympics we can give Indian hockey a huge boost”, said Sandeep Singh, adding that presence of Dilip Tirkey in the camp is of great help.
"Tirkey's experience is helping us enormously as he has gone through the drill for a number of years, and we realise his knowledge of situational play is far more than what we have," said the drag-flicker.
On the missing players he said, “We are focusing on the team that is picked for the tournament. Everyone who is picked is a good player. The team was picked on the basis of form and fitness and I am happy with the team.”
Sandeep also mentioned that by qualifying they can revive the future of Indian hockey.
By Indian Sports News
