Indian team arrive for HWLF tournament
Bhubaneswar: There were enough indications here Wednesday that the legendary Sardar Singh’s international career is more or less over when Indian senior men’s hockey team coach Sjoerd Marijne said that there are youngsters to fill up the shoes.
“The likes of Birendra (Lakra) and Rupinder (Pal Singh) will definitely fill up the void created by Sardar’s absence. We are building a team for the future and hence we will bank on youngsters. They did very well in the recently-concluded Asia Cup and we will be pinning our hopes on them for the Hockey World League Final (HWLF),” Marijne stated on his arrival along with the Indian players in the city, Wednesday. R Vineel Krishna, director, sports and youth affairs department, Government of Orissa was present at the Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) to welcome the players and Marijne with flower bouquets. A few Hockey India officials (HI) were also present to welcome the hockey stars.
Captain Manpreet Singh and Lalit Upadhyay were the most sought after players for the fans. One could see that the players were overwhelmed by the rousing reception they got. Oriya players Birendra Lakra, Dipsan Tirkey and Amit Rohidas were also the cynosure of all eyes.
“We know that Bhubaneswar is a hockey crazy city. The stadium is always packed during mega tournaments. We are determined to put up a great show and we request fans to continue supporting the Indian team,” Marijne stated.
Manpreet asserted that they have prepared properly for the event. “We know that this is a very tough tournament with all the top-ranked hockey nations participating. But we have trained hard for this event and our confidence is sky high after our Asia Cup triumph,” he asserted.
“We are not looking too far ahead. We will take it one match at a time. This strategy has helped us in the past to get good results. So we will play accordingly,” Manpreet added.
India will open their campaign, December 1 against defending champions Australia. Acknowledging that it is a very tough opener, Manpreet asserted that they are ready for the challenge. “Winning against them is difficult, but not impossible. We are keen to win the opener, as it will give us a huge momentum,” he stated.
