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A slew of injuries may not have helped the cause of the Indian men’s hockey team on the eve of their departure for Belgium for the second FIH Men’s Hockey World League Semifinals, but the Sardar Singh-led side have shown that they are not perturbed by it, if their efforts in their four practice games are any indication.
Losing a key drag-flicker, a handy fullback besides a seasoned striker is surely a ‘blow of some kind’, and despite these casualties the Indian team have really acquitted themselves quite well so far ahead of their world league campaign.
The 9th ranked Indians’ surprising 3-1 over 4th ranked Great Britain in their final practice game must be just what the doctor ordered before they launch their campaign against 18th ranked France on Saturday – a team against whom they huffed and puffed their way to not-so-impressive solitary goal win in their opening warm-up tie. One can excuse the Indians for their opening game blues, but they soon hit the ground running and narrowly lost to 5th ranked Belgium 1-2, before subsequently posting a 4-0 win over USA.
The forward-line minus SV Sunil, need to maintain their aggression with much expected from Nikkin Thimmaiah, Akashdeep Singh and Ramandeep Singh to shoulder the responsibility of scoring goals with the likes of Dharamvir Singh, Yuvraj Walmiki, Chinglensana Singh and Lalit Upadhyay lending solid support.
Skipper Sardar Singh alongside Gurbaj Singh, Manpreet Singh, Gurmail Singh and Devinder Walmiki controlling the midfield. India’s trusted man in goal – PR Sreejesh – will be again looked upon to thwart the opposition raids. Rupinder Pal Singh will have an onerous task of being the lone drag-flicker in the side besides defending the Indian ‘D – the likes of Birendra Lakra and Jasjit Singh will need to form a cohesive unit in defence.
The good thing about India’s fixtures is that they have to counter two lower ranked sides – France and Poland in their first two games – if they can garner full points with facile wins, they will be up for the task against arch-rivals Pakistan and World Champions Australia.
On paper, India are looking good to reach the semis of the HWL semi-final and one hopes that the Paul Van Ass-coached side turns that into reality on the pitch. A podium finish in Belgium will be a big ‘high’ for the national team with the 2016 Rio Olympics just a year away.
