India returns after one year in international hockey, what will be amazing?
Whenever the Indian hockey team talks about the Olympic Games, the first question that comes to mind is whether we have been able to climb the podium this time?
The reason for this is that since the 1980 Moscow Olympics, we have not been able to link with the medal.
By the beginning of the year 2020, the team had hoped to climb the podium. But after this, due to Corona, the preparations of the Indian team got a break.
Now after almost a year, the Indian team is going to make a comeback in competitive international hockey.
The comeback will take place in Krefeld, with Germany playing on 28 February.
India last played the last international hockey match from Australia in February 2020.
It was a competition of the FIH Pro League.
The Indian team will travel from Germany to Antwerp (Belgium) on this 17-day European tour after playing matches on 28 February and 2 March and will play two matches with Great Britain on 6 and 8 March there.
India at the highest ranking in history
The tour is considered to be important for the FIH Pro League matches to be held in April-May and then for Olympic hockey from July 24 to August 6.
At the time of the team’s departure, Graham Reid, the head coach of the Indian hockey team, said, “We are happy that the team has got the chance for the European tour. After 12 months, our eyes are focused on playing the competition.
Playing with such teams as Germany and Great Britain will help us in the preparations for the FIH Pro League and Olympics. Anyway, it is always good to play with the top ten teams in the world. “
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Indian team lost by beating world number three
The Indian team is currently at the fourth highest ranking in its history. Before the shock of the Corona epidemic, the Indian team achieved this ranking by performing brilliantly in international matches.
Only Belgium, Australia and Netherlands have teams ahead of them in the rankings. The Indian team performed brilliantly in the FIH Pro League before Corona was braked for the Games.
India started brilliantly last year in the FIH Pro League and defeated the Netherlands in both matches. After this, the world champion and the world’s first ranked team defeated Belgium in one match and lost in the other, expressing that they too have now joined the Big League teams.
But when the Indian team lost 4–1 in the match against Australia, the perception about the team started to change. But in the last quarter of this match, the attacking game that India performed and scored two goals, it made sense for the team’s life.
India could not save this match, but they got the benefit of it in the second match and after winning 2-2 in it, won their victory in the penalty shootout and made them realize their power.
It was India’s first win against Australia since 2016.
Fully balanced team
Former captain and coach of the Indian hockey team, Zafar Iqbal said, “The current Indian team is completely balanced. This team also has the ability to score goals along with the players who make the attacks. Also the defense of the team is good. .
“This team will get a good experience playing from Germany and Britain, which will be useful in the Olympics.” Our defense has been strengthened strategically. “
Zafar Iqbal said, “The current Indian coach Graham Reid is an experienced coach and he has prepared this team well. In our time players used to have difficulty in changing the place to play. But the current team is designed in such a way that the players Do not feel any problem in changing the place to play.
“Anyway, our team is currently at its fourth best rank. Looking at the preparation of this team, it can be said that it has the potential to perform well in the Olympics. But ranking in the Olympics has no special significance. So it will have to be seen what this team does. But it is sure that there are many expectations from this team. “
Work done on flaws too
During the Korana period, the Indian hockey team has been training mostly in the Sai Center of Bengaluru.
During this time, he has got the opportunity to work on his shortcomings. But how much improvement has been made in the flaws, it will only be able to know by comparison.
Due to this tour, the exact position of the team will be known. If there are some flaws in the team, then there will be a chance to work on them before the FIH Pro League matches.
However, since Graham Reid became the head coach, India has improved its weaknesses to a great extent.
During the attack of the opposition team, there was often a panic in the defense, so that the front forwards did not get a chance to score, then they would have got a penalty corner. But now our defenders are confidently tackling opposition players.
Just before the Olympics, it cannot be a good preparation due to the competition of the FIH Pro League.
In this league, India will play against Argentina on 10 and 11 April, Great Britain on 8 and 9 May, Spain on 12 and 13 May, Germany on 18 and 19 May and New Zealand on 29 and 30 May.
Teams are also involved in Olympics
This competition is also important for India because three of these teams are included in India’s Olympic Group A.
These teams are – Argentina, New Zealand and Spain. India has already done well by playing from Australia, the fourth team of the group. The fifth team host is Japan.
According to the format of Olympic hockey, the top four teams of each group have to make it to the quarter-finals.
From this perspective, there is hardly any problem in India’s quarter-finals, as India, Australia, Argentina, Japan, New Zealand and Spain are the teams in Group A.
To win India a place in the quarter-finals, winning only two matches will do the job, and this task does not look more difficult given India’s past performance.
In fact, in this format by performing better in the league stage and joining the first two places in the group, the quarter-finals will play against the lower ranked teams of the second group. Anyway, a win in the knockout stage can lead to a medal race.
