We are going to Birmingham to win a medal: Manpreet Singh

Story by  ATV | Posted by  Aasha Khosa • 1 Years ago
Captain of the Indian Hockey team Manpreet Singh
Captain of the Indian Hockey team Manpreet Singh

 

Nakul Shivani/New Delhi

Manpreet Singh, captain of the Indian men’s hockey team is confident that India will return with a medal from the forthcoming Commonwealth Games scheduled to be held in Birmingham later this month.

Speaking exclusively to Awaz-the Voice, he however, had a word of caution for his teammates. “We are definitely playing the final. But we must not be over-confident and take any team lightly”

India is clubbed with Ghana, England, Canada and Wales. India starts its campaign against Ghana on July 31.

Thirty one probables for the Indian team are currently undergoing a one-month training camp in Bengaluru.

The Indian team is currently having a month long camp in Bengaluru

India finished third in the just concluded FIH Pro League. Manpreet said there were lessons to be learnt from the outings against the world's top teams like Belgium and the Netherlands.

“We are constantly looking to improve. We could have done better in the FIH pro league. The loss to France hurt us. But the overall performance was good. We played very well against the Netherlands and Belgium. The youngsters in the team got a chance to learn a lot from the matches. But now we need to move on, learn from our mistakes and move on for the CWG”, he said.

One area that the team is paying extra attention to is penalty corner conversion. India has some lethal drag flickers in Harmanpreet Singh, Varun Kumar, Amit Rohidas with the young Jugraj Singh who had an impressive debut against South Africa in the FIH Pro League.

Manpreet admitted the team could have done better in this area. “Penalty corner conversion let us down in the last few matches. We are working on variations. Our defence also needs to become stronger. We must learn to tackle the 3-D skills of our opponents. We are working on our weaknesses.”

The nucleus of the team continues to be the veterans from the Tokyo Bronze medal-winning effort. According to the Indian captain, the third-place podium finish there after 41 years has boosted the sport in the country.

India won an Olympic medal after 41 years in Tokyo

“It has brought hockey fans back to the sport. Players believe that they can beat the top teams now. The confidence level is very high”, he said about the Tokyo performance.

Manpreet added there is no additional pressure on the team as a result of the historic performance in Tokyo.

“There is no additional pressure on us after the Olympics. We need to look ahead and prepare for the future. Our aim is to qualify for the finals in Paris.”, he said.

The final 16 member-squad will be selected from the 31 probables and leave for Birmingham at the end of the month.