ANI
31 Jul 2021, 17:48 GMT+10
Tokyo [Japan], July 31 (ANI): Achieving their first target by cementing a place in the quarter-finals, the Indian men's hockey team led by Manpreet Singh will be gunning for a win against Great Britain on Sunday to make it to the final four in the ongoing Tokyo Olympics.
A semi-final berth has eluded the Indian men's hockey team since the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games where the team led by V Baskaran won the eighth Gold Medal for India.
Taking on Great Britain who has two wins, two draws and a loss from their Pool B encounters, the Indian Men's Hockey Chief Coach Graham Reid expressed confidence in his team's ability to get the better of their opponent on Sunday.
"To be honest, facing any of the four European teams who have come directly from the Euro Championships was always going to be a difficult Quarter Final game, but I think it really matters on which one you get," saidBut probably Great Britain are the ones we are comfortable with and very confident with. I think if we play the way we know that we can, then definitely victory is possible."Barring the disappointment against Australia (1-7) in their second game in the Pool A matches, India did well to finish second in their pool with substantial wins against New Zealand (3-2), Spain (3-0), Argentina (3-1) and Japan (5-3).
Now, Reid believes, India will need to carry forward the momentum from these wins into the Quarter Finals. "When you look at our performances in the last four-five games, apart from the Australian one which was really disappointing result, the rest have been about building performance levels.""I think we are reasonably happy with how things have gone. Friday's game against Japan was really about trying to increase the tempo so that we can be hitting our straps during the Quarter Finals.
"Objective was really to be playing at that level. I think Japan played very well, I thought we played a higher, faster tempo. That's what we are going to need to have to play against Great Britain," said the 56-year-old Australian.
In their most recent tour of Europe in March this year, India had faced off with Great Britain in two games where they drew 1-1 in the first game and beat Great Britain 3-2 in the second.
India Skipper Manpreet Singh, however, did not read too much into those results and said, "It was good to play Great Britain in Europe which helped us gain a better understanding of how this team has been playing in recent times. But they can be a dark horse at the Olympics, and we really need to play our A Game against them.""It was pleasing to score three field goals in the match against Japan. We were creating opportunities in the previous matches, but we were not converting, so it was nice to do that on Friday.
"I think we have been doing well with the PCs. Again, I want to reiterate that we need to do well in all departments to get the better of Great Britain. We have been building our momentum and obviously tomorrow night we need to continue that," said Manpreet. (ANI)Get a daily dose of Chile Sun news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Chile Sun.
More InformationBUENOS AIRES, Argentina: The Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Jorge García Cuerva, used a major religious event over the weekend to criticize...
SAO PAULO, Brazil: Amid a surge in electric vehicle (EV) adoption and growing competition in Brazil, Chinese automaker GAC has officially...
Panama City [Panama], May 28 (ANI): The all-party Indian parliamentary delegation led by Shashi Tharoor paid floral tributes to the...
Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], May 28 (ANI): The Indian women's hockey team departed from Bengaluru's Kempegowda International Airport...
Developing countries, empowered by their growing economic influence, are poised to improve global trade rules toward more balanced...
Rosario [Argentina], May 28 (ANI): The Indian Junior Women's Hockey Team clinched a hard-fought 2-0 win in the shootout against hosts...
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - At a meeting on Tuesday in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, ASEAN leaders reiterated their commitment...
The tech mogul has led the cost-cutting DOGE task force Tech billionaire Elon Musk, head of the US Department of Government Efficiency...
Panama City [Panama], May 29 (ANI): Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, who is leading multi-party delegation to Panama, on Wednesday (local...
ISLAMABAD, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan's Minister of State for Federal Education and Professional Training, Wajiha Qamar, said Tuesday...
Athens [Greece], May 29 (ANI): Samajwadi Party MP Rajeev Rai, who is part of the all-party delegation led by DMK MP Kanimozhi Karunanidhi,...
Washington DC [US], May 29 (ANI): US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday said that the US will begin revoking visas of Chinese...