We need to be careful against New Zealand, Indian hockey skipper Manpreet Singh warns his team ahead of their opening clash against the Black Sticks

The Indian men's hockey team will begin their Tokyo Olympics journey against New Zealand. Skipper Manpreet Singh said they have no plans to take dark horse New Zealand lightly in their opening match of the group stage starting Saturday at the Tokyo Olympic Games.

In an exclusive chat with Sportskeeda, the Indian captain said:

“We can’t take New Zealand team lightly. We need to be careful. For steady progress in the Olympics, we need to stick to the basics. Ensure we execute our plans properly and do not get complacent at any point in the game.”

India is grouped with the defending champions Argentina, the formidable Australia, New Zealand, Spain, and Japan.

Manpreet’s caution to his team also comes from his past experiences while playing against New Zealand, whose skipper Blair Tarrant has 217 international caps.

In their previous encounter during the 2019 FIH Test event, India had beaten New Zealand 5-0 in the final. India, however, suffered a 1-2 defeat at the hands of New Zealand in the round robin league.

Check Out: Tokyo Olympics 2021 Schedule

Graham Reid feels India are well prepared for the Tokyo Olympics

Indian men's hockey team head coach Graham Reid also had an exclusive chat with Sportskeeda. He said:

“The New Zealand side is mentally very tough. They never give up. This attitude of makes them a dangerous opponent. They have a very skilful forward line. New Zealand's world ranking is eight, but at the Olympics it doesn't really matter. So, it will be important for us to start well on Saturday.”

Graham Reid feels playing the friendly match against Germany on Thursday was important because the Indian team has not played against anyone in the past three months due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We created enough opportunities and came back to finish well. We will be using some feedback from that game and loop in the missing aspects and be ready for a good match on Saturday,” said Graham.

Graham went on to add that the Indian men's team is ready for the group stage challenge.

“I always like to make sure we do drills to get familiar and test the playing surface before the main competition. Things like penalty corners and bounce of the turf are often very important because overheads also play such an important role in the matches these days. We went through the intricacies of the ground in the last three-four days in the village and training sessions,” added the chief men’s hockey coach.

India play their second preliminary round match against Australia on Sunday and take on Spain in their next match on Tuesday (July 27). India will face Argentina on July 29 and Japan on July 30.

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Check Out: Tokyo Olympics Hockey Schedule