JAKARTA: India's hockey coach Harendra Singh is on a mission – to place the sport on the path of glory once more. Once hockey's superpowers, India's fortunes plummeted within the past due 1970s but a revival of sorts in recent years has noticed them upward push to No.five place on this planet rankings.
India won their final of their 8 Olympic hockey gold medals way back in 1980 – on synthetic turf in Moscow. The previous seven all came on grass. Artificial turf was once blamed for India's decline within the sport. But Harendra believes this tendency has hurt India greater than anything. The recreation failed to conform within the nation and India was once left to play catch up with the rest.
"I believe those were excuses. All teams switched from grass to astro turf and it was not just India. We did not do our homework during that time and gave excuses that artificial turf had been introduced to kill Indian hockey," he told TOI. "It's nothing like that. If we have the skill and execute it correctly, we can perform on any turf."
As Harendra makes a speciality of hanging India on the fast observe to luck, he's not permitting previous successes or failures to distract him ahead of the Asian Games campaign in Jakarta. "What have done well in the Asian Games is history. That we are the defending champions or eight-time Olympic champions is in the past. It means nothing. We must live in the moment and work on the future as only that matters to me."
At the Asiad, India could be strong favourites as they are the only top-10 workforce within the event. A identify win here would ensure that them a berth within the Tokyo Olympics and Harendra isn't taking anything without any consideration. "I never think about the rivals. We go match by match. For me Lanka or Indonesia are as important rivals as China, Japan or South Korea. When you play in the pool stage, every match is important. The priority is always to qualify for knockout stage."
He said the gamers are motivated sufficient to do their best possible in each and every match. "Modern sport is played in the mind. Every team comes to the field fit and with skills. If the players are prepared mentally and motivated, I think they win half the battle for you," he said.
"We are having done one-to-one talks with players and guiding them to motivate themselves. I tell them to control what they can and not worry too much about what's beyond them. Many factors are not in our hands like the pitch. We can't do anything about it. But thinking too much about it can result in negativity."
India won their final of their 8 Olympic hockey gold medals way back in 1980 – on synthetic turf in Moscow. The previous seven all came on grass. Artificial turf was once blamed for India's decline within the sport. But Harendra believes this tendency has hurt India greater than anything. The recreation failed to conform within the nation and India was once left to play catch up with the rest.
"I believe those were excuses. All teams switched from grass to astro turf and it was not just India. We did not do our homework during that time and gave excuses that artificial turf had been introduced to kill Indian hockey," he told TOI. "It's nothing like that. If we have the skill and execute it correctly, we can perform on any turf."
As Harendra makes a speciality of hanging India on the fast observe to luck, he's not permitting previous successes or failures to distract him ahead of the Asian Games campaign in Jakarta. "What have done well in the Asian Games is history. That we are the defending champions or eight-time Olympic champions is in the past. It means nothing. We must live in the moment and work on the future as only that matters to me."
At the Asiad, India could be strong favourites as they are the only top-10 workforce within the event. A identify win here would ensure that them a berth within the Tokyo Olympics and Harendra isn't taking anything without any consideration. "I never think about the rivals. We go match by match. For me Lanka or Indonesia are as important rivals as China, Japan or South Korea. When you play in the pool stage, every match is important. The priority is always to qualify for knockout stage."
He said the gamers are motivated sufficient to do their best possible in each and every match. "Modern sport is played in the mind. Every team comes to the field fit and with skills. If the players are prepared mentally and motivated, I think they win half the battle for you," he said.
"We are having done one-to-one talks with players and guiding them to motivate themselves. I tell them to control what they can and not worry too much about what's beyond them. Many factors are not in our hands like the pitch. We can't do anything about it. But thinking too much about it can result in negativity."
The tag of defending champions means nothing: Harendra
![The tag of defending champions means nothing: Harendra]()
Reviewed by Kailash
on
August 19, 2018
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