Terry Walsh: It is going to take time for India's players to reach the top

Terry Walsh (centre) at the Indian hockey team’s practice session

The Hague, June 14 (IANS): After India finished a disappointing ninth in the FIH Hockey World Cup, a step below their World rankings, coach Terry Walsh said it would take some time for the 1975 champions to be back among the top teams.

Before leaving for the World Cup, the Australian hoped that India would finish among the top eight but was left disappointed as his boys failed to retain their No. 8 ranking.

"We mixed different styles of play - they call it the European way and the Asian way, but I feel that it is just two styles of play. The main difference is that the European approach is to focus on the process not the result. For us it is going to take time for the players to go through the system," said Walsh after India finished ninth with a 3-0 win over South Korea here Saturday.

Citing the example of the rapidly improving Belgians, Walsh said: "If you look at Belgium, they have been working hard for 10 years and they still don't make the top four. All teams are working really hard, and we have to understand that it is a long process."

India captain Sardar Singh said beating South Korea was good and they have to do it again in the Asia Cup if they want to qualify for the Olympics.

"Our tournament started really good, we had lots of youngsters playing and they have had to learn quickly. They are improving really quickly. Beating Korea was good, we need to do that again in the Asia Cup to qualify for the Olympics. If we play like we did today we will continue to improve," said Sardar.

Sardar said Indian have worked hard on defence, especially after they conceded late goals against Belgium and England.

"We worked on improving our defending, particularly after conceding in the last minutes against Belgium and England, and after those games we didn't concede like that again," he said.