Indian Hockey Coach Harendra Singh says lacklustre defence brought humiliated defeat
Harendra Sing, the chief coach of the India hockey team, declared the uninspiring defence as main reason behind the humiliated defeats in the hands of the Black Sticks and Pakistan. In his views, the missing passes and under-pressure defence played key role
in the consecutive defeats.
It is vital to mention here that India, the defending champions, lost to Pakistan by two goals, 3-1 while received a defeat from New Zealand by four points, 7-3. Interestingly, the Indian team led the first half of play against arch-rival Pakistan by a single
goal, 1-0. However, they could not maintain their level and fell under intense pressure in the second period. Pakistan defeated India after losing five games that took place last year in different tournaments.
In the second match against New Zealand, the Indian team was leading the game, but a hat-trick from Andrew Hayward out-classed them from the medal's race.
The chief coach, while speaking to the media, said that every second pass was sent wrongly that helped the opposing sides to develop their grip in the game. The frequent occurring of missing passes decreased the confidence level of Indian players, he added
saying that the first half of plays were much better as compared to the second periods. Apart from the defeats, he was of the opinion that the youngsters learned a lot from the tournaments
He said, “What will happen when you keep gifting away goals? If we keep giving the ball to the rivals on a platter, they will come and score.” To follow the instructions and game-plane is necessary in the matches, as some players subconsciously did not pursue
the guidelines, he stressed.
Meanwhile, Arjun Halappa, the captain of the Indian side, was of the view that they lost the games at the mid-field position. He further stated that they were not good on defence in the second half of play in the two games.
Seconding the views of Harendra Singh, the skipper asked the players to accept the responsibility of defeats. He said that they had repeatedly done the same mistakes in the two matches, adding that the defence, particularly against the penalty corners was
quite awful.
The captain stated, “The ball seemed to stay deep inside our territory. We need to work on this aspect, but the players are young and this will be a good learning experience.”
It is vital to mention here that the Indian team comprised of young players in the absence of experienced names. Fabled hockey pros including Rajpal Singh, Sandeep Singh, Sardara Singh and Tushar Khandekar were not part of the squad that contested the seven-nation
invitational.
India will play a classification match on Sunday, May 15, in search of fifth or sixth place.
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