Lucknow: It was a night for the Indian colts hockey team to remember Sunday, after they broke a 15-year jinx to win the World Junior Hockey title here beating Belgium 2-1. And skipper Harjeet Singh said after the game that the ‘joy victory has given to the countrymen outweighs everything else’.
Harjeet thanked his teammates for the superb show and complemented the packed Major Dyan Chand Astroturf Stadium crowd here for support throughout the tournament.
“I would like to thank all the players who had one goal in mind and that is to win the trophy,” Harjeet told reporters after the end of the game. “Everybody has put in a lot of hardwork under discipline. We all had one aim and we thankfully managed to achieve that today (Sunday). This team will give the country a lot of joy in future,” an emotional captain added.
Harjeet said they approached the match as any other game and just concentrated on performing their respective duties on the turf.
“We all knew what we had to do in the field, everyone knew their duties. We just concentrated on that and played simple hockey. We played the final like a normal game, not anything special,” Harjeet pointed out.
“We were leading by two goals and the plan was to sit back, defend and rely on counters. We played according to our plan. Every player put in a lot of energy,” added Harjeet.
India’s coach Harendra Singh said he was assured of winning the trophy when he took over the reigns of the team in 2014. “In April 2014, I had said that we are going to win the trophy, you can ask these boys,” he asserted. “The heroes are the players and I won’t take the limelight. These are the 18 golden gems of India and it is their day,” he added.
Chief coach of the senior men’s team Roelant Oltmans, who was the manager of the junior side here, said the Indian colts played ‘near perfect’ hockey. “The first half was very close to perfect game. But in the second half we gave them a little bit too much initiative to be honest. But not one second in this game I was worried. The boys did a fantastic job and all the credit to these 18 players,” the Dutchman said.
PTI
