With over 200 caps under his belt for the Indian national hockey team, VR Raghunath is one of the senior and experienced veterans to look out for in the 2016 Summer Games. After finishing a disappointing 12th in 2012 london, Raghunath —part of that side — will be eager to improve on that result. The 27-year-old dragflicker tells Karthik Raman how he and his teammates are going to go about their business in the Rio Olympics
You have made over 200 international appearances, how do you see you career has panned outIJ
I would say the last five years have been my best, when I have been playing my best hockey. Compared from the days when I started playing, many senior players have also left now, so the onus is on the likes of me to step up and I believe I have been playing my best for the past five years. I have been playing at high intensity level during that period.
What do you make about the level of current Indian teamIJ
We have beaten some really good teams and have climbed from 13th rank to 7th. For example at the end of last year, we defeated Britain in the knockout round of Hockey World league and won the third place by beating the Netherlands. So you can say we have been playing good of late.
What do you think is the turning point in India's late revivalIJ
The gold we won in 2014 Asian Games was a big confident boost. We worked so hard for it and worked in the right direction. The team effort and individual contribution we put in helped us immensely. After the 2012 Olympics disappointment, it was a big boost to win the medal.
So now are you confident of improving upon the disappointing 12th place finish in london OlympicsIJ
We can't promise anything, but we can say that we will definitely give our 100 percent. We will be working to our extreme and will do our best to perform there. We will definitely entertain the fans.
How is the team's training for the Olympics goingIJ
The preparation has been going on for a long time. We started training one and a half years ago. Head coach (Roelant) Oltmans has come up with really good ideas and we have been preparing ourselves intensively for the past 18-19 months.
What are your upcoming tournaments before OlympicsIJ
Next week we will be playing in the Champions Trophy and then we will participate in the five nation trophy in Spain.