India might have failed to break their Commonwealth Games title jinx for the second consecutive time but captain Sardar Singh has a lot of positives to take from the event and said the silver medal was a “well- deserved” achievement for the past masters of the game.
Sardar said the young side can be “proud of their achievement” in the just-concluded Glasgow Games despite losing 0-4 to world champions Australia in the final.
“It was disappointment to miss out on the gold time but we are satisfied with what we have achieved. The boys can be proud of their achievement,” Sardar said in an interview after arriving from Glasgow. “The silver medal was well-deserved because we lost against a side which is the best in the world and are currently well ahead of us.
“Even though we couldn’t match them in the final as we expected but we gave them a tough fight in the group stage. We lost 2-4 in the group stage and that speaks volumes about our improvement,” the ace midfielder said.
Irrespective of the final result, Sardar feels they grew as a team during the Glasgow Games and exuded confidence of sealing a direct berth in the 2016 Rio Olympics by winning the upcoming Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea.
“We grew as a team during the tournament which was important. We more or less achieved our goal that we set before leaving for Glasgow. We wanted to beat Australia once during the course of the tournament but we failed,” he said.
“We have definitely improved as a team which was visible in our performance but we need some more time to come at par with top teams like Australia.
“The Commonwealth Games gave us good preparation ahead of the Asian Games. We are now confident of winning the gold medal in the Asian Games and qualify directly for the Rio Olympics.”
Sardar said India will be a “force to reckon with” in 2016 Olympics.