Bhubaneswar: Wales skipper Rupert Shipperley considers India favourites against his team, but also feels that the home team will be under pressure when the two teams face each other in their Pool C match of the FIH Men’s Hockey World Cup at the Kalinga Stadium here, Thursday.
Wales are playing their first World Cup and it was dream-come-true moment for the players. Their maiden appearance hasn’t been that smooth as they lost to their neighbours England 0-5 before suffering a 1-5 defeat against Spain.
Rupert, who has an experience of 95 games for Wales, shared his teammates’ voice over their first WC campaign. “We were excited and nervous at the same time for our first ever WC. We didn’t have a great start to the tournament (indicating consecutive defeats) but we will try our best to turn setback into motivation when we face India.”
Rupert feels that India will be favourites against them, but concedes that home team would be under pressure. “It will be a David vs Goliath match for us as they are clear favourites. But they will be under more pressure than us considering they will be playing on their home turf in a packed stadium,” asserted Rupert.
“We had played against India at the Commonwealth Games and had a close encounter against them so we are hoping to do well and win,” he added.
Rupert said that Odisha as a host of HWC has done a marvelous job. “We had played our first two matches at the Birsa Munda International Hockey Stadium in Rourkela and it was a great experience. We are looking forward to play our first match at the Kalinga stadium.”
Rupert, who had represented Great Britain in the Tokyo Olympics, said that they will focus on attacking approach against India and for them India skipper Harmanpreet Singh will be the player to watch out for. “We will try to take some chances and go for an early goal. (Of course) we will also try to fend off their attack and take control of the game,” he concluded.
Jack Pritchard, Rupert’s teammate, said that their approach would be to get an early goal. “Despite India being the favourites, we believe that we can find an early goal if we can put pressure on them and create some chances,” he asserted.
Jack heaped praise on Odisha for their support for the sport. “Odisha is doing a great job for hockey and its development. Other countries should take inspiration from them,” he signed off.
PNN
