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Bhubaneswar, Dec 5: Terry Walsh’s absence notwithstanding, a confident India under Roelant Oltmans is all set to break the German ‘Wall’ in their Champions Trophy tie Saturday evening here at the Kalinga Stadium.
In what could be a relief factor for India ahead of their crucial opening encounter, half of the German players do not have the experience of more than 30 matches. In fact, three players out of the 18 have never played in an international tournament, whereas three have played less than 10 international matches.
However, wary of the German resilience, Oltmans said Friday that there should never be any doubt over the quality of the Olympic champions. “They (Germans) may be inexperienced but they are a high quality team,” stated Oltsman.
In India, there are five players among 18 with the experience of playing less than 30 matches. However, they have been in good form for last few months. Under former coach Walsh’s guidance, India won the silver medal in Glasgow Commonwealth Games before clinching a gold after 16 years at the Incheon Asiad,
Talking about India skipper Sardar Singh, the coach said the Indian skipper practiced with the team (Friday) and he is 90 per cent sure of playing in the opener. When asked if there is any trump card of India for the tournament, Oltmans remarked with confidence: “My team is my trump card.” He said that it would be a ‘very very close tournament’ as all teams are capable of emerging triumphant on a given day. “We will plan our strategy step-by-step,” Oltmans informed.
Sardar expressed confidence for the upcoming match and said: “We would try to focus on the strategies we have made for the tournament as no team will be an easy opponent.”
Talking about his own fitness, Sardar said that he has been advised to do warm-up 15 minutes before the tie and some recovery exercises. “I am confident that I will play tomorrow (Saturday),” he added.
Earlier, the India players practiced their moves at the Stadium and looked all confident for the opening match. They started with some light warm-up drills and switched on to practicing penalty corner conversions. A lot of effort also went into combination moves.
