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The Indian men’s hockey team coach Graham Reid said the best of the current Indian team has not come yet. Although the Indian men’s hockey team dished out a commendable performance on Thursday to win an Olympic medal after 41 years, the coach said the team is on course to become even better. He wants them to become one of the best in the world.
When Graham Reid took over Indian hockey, he had a tough job on hands. He had to shape up the team to first qualify for the knockouts and then instill a mentality where every player dreams of winning the gold medal at the Olympics. Once the dream was shattered by Belgium, the coach had a job in hand to make sure the team doesn’t fall apart.
And, the Australian did exactly that as he guided India to a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics 2021.
Graham Reid backed the players to the hilt, strategized the opponent’s game well and had a simple plan which was easily executable.
Addressing a virtual press conference, Graham Reid said it all boiled down to picking oneself up and coming back strong. He said:
“The first hurdle was the mentality of not allowing yourself to feel sorry for yourself, putting missing out on gold and silver behind and focusing on the bronze medal match. The team did it together. We have not seen the best of this team yet.”
Graham Reid lauded the mental resilience of the Indian men’s hockey team as they scripted a thrilling comeback tale to finish third in Tokyo. He said:
“It was a fantastic performance against Germany, apart from the first seven or eight minutes when we were a little napping. To come back from 3-1 down, many teams would struggle mentally. But winning with a margin of 5-3 was a great performance.”
Graham Reid's positive approach
India played the game in two halves. While the first half was Germany all the way, India came back strongly in the second half to surprise their opponents and take charge of the game with an aggressive display of hockey.
The way the forward line, midfield and defense worked in tandem was a treat to watch and the Germans had no answer to India’s modified game plan. Talking about what he had spoken to the players during the break, Graham Reid said:
“We talk a lot of things and plan a lot of things but in the end, it’s for the players to execute that. I am happy that these boys managed to do that. This team has a lot of potential to be the best.”
Also read: "Coach made us stand on chairs like it was the Olympic podium"
The pandemic also played its part in shaping up the Indian team for this performance. The team was in a bio-bubble at the Sports Authority of India Center in Bengaluru and Graham Reid feels the time spent together was a game changer. He added:
“In the last 15 months, we stayed together in Bangalore (Bengaluru) and helped us become a close unit. It was during this time that we worked on our fitness and that helped us a lot (in Tokyo) as the boys could manage to come back strongly after they landed in trouble in some of the matches.”
