Indian skipper Sardar feels that junior team crumbled at crucial moments
In the recently concluded Hero Hockey Junior World Cup, the Indian team finished a disappointing 10th, prompting questions from all quarters on how the players who were part of the U-21 team will play while donning the national jersey.
With their poor show, the team has disappointed one and all, including national team skipper Sardar Singh.
"The way they had trained before the tournament and the way they had performed in other tournaments prior to the WC, everyone had expected a good show from them. I feel they were a bit unlucky. They didn't play up to their standards or the level. They are far better players," he told reports.
Manpreet Singh-led Indians lost their opening encounter against Netherlands and registered a struggling win against lowly-ranked Canada. Requiring only a win to qualify to quarterfinals, they were leading 3-1 till 58th minute against Korea before losing the control of the game which resulted in being hold to 3-3 draw. Again in the crucial match against arch-rival Pakistan, they never looked like getting the momentum.
Centre-half Sarfar reckons that the team wilted under pressure and said there is a need of a psychologist which will help them become mentally strong.
"When we were watching India's Junior World Cup matches from the stands, the players looked to be under pressure. I felt that they were finding it difficult to handle the pressure of playing in front of home crowd. I feel we definitely need a psychologist with the team as early as possible. We even discussed this thing with (Hockey India's High Performance Director) Roelant Oltmans. I am sure he will have a word with Hockey India and hopefully we will have a psychologist before the Hockey World league Final," he pointed out.
Sardar, even gave an example from his experience during the playing days in Blomendaal HC. "When I joined the team we were not doing well and in fact had lost four matches before the psychologist had a one hour one-on-one session with each player. Then, we won next five matches on trot in the Dutch league," he pointed out.
Sardar, who is also the captain of the Delhi Waveriders in the Hockey India league, played with the historic club Blomendaal and opined that the stint at the Dutch club has enriched his experience.
"It was a brilliant experience. They play the games in a highly competitive manner. The defenders 'standards is very high and in the circle, they even will not allow you to raise your face. It has been a good experience. I am sure that my game has got only better by playing there.
The skipper also said that his team had a one-month long intensive training in Bhopal under new coach Terry Walsh and the squad will also have another practice camp before the crucial Hero HWl final, which was launched at a press conference in the presence of Federation of Inetrnational Hockey President leandro Negre.
The HWl Final will be played at Major Dhyan Chand Stadium here from January 10th to 18. The tournament will feature top seven teams - Olympics champion and currently number one-ranked Germany, world cup holders Australia, Netherlands, England, Belgium, New Zealand, 11th-ranked Argentina and 10th-ranked hosts India. This provides India a great chance to assess their strengths and weaknesses before the World Cup.
Cedric new Waveriders coachDelhi Waveriders, the Delhi-based team of the Hero Hockey India league, on Saturday introduced their new chief coach Cedric D' Souza.
A former national team goal-keeper and a former Indian coach Cedric will replace Ajay Kumar Bansal, who had moved out to Kalinga lancers.
Among other appointments, Delhi has appointed Berkhout Hendrik Bortel as Cedric's assistant and David R Schieffelers of Netherlands as physio. South Africa's Robin van Ginkel has been appointed as the physical trainer.
Waveriders had finished runners-up to Ranchi Rhinos in the inaugural edition of HIl and the coach said that his team will look to repeat the good work.
The team also announced their new face — Bollywood actor John Abraham, who has also bought a 13% stake in the team.
CT 2014 at Bhubaneswar
Secretary General of the HI, Narinder Batra also said that they have decded to host the Asian Champions Trophy in Bhubaneswar.
The Kalinga stadium in the Odisha's capital will also be the home stadium to the Kalinga lancers, the sixth franchise of the HIl this season. The facility at the stadium was inspected earlier in the year by the FIH technical team and had given a thumbs-up to it.
The stadium right now has got a blue-coloured astro turf pitch and another pitch will be ready by the time the eight-nation tournament will be held.
"It has been more than a month that we have allocated the Champions Trophy to Orissa and it will be held in Bhubaneswar," Batra said.