Rajgir (Bihar) – The gamble of dropping some experienced players from the Indian hockey team and giving opportunities to young players paid off in the Asia Cup, where the team defeated South Korea 4-1 in the final to win the title after eight years and secure a ticket for next year’s World Cup.
This victory will inspire the team to make further changes in the future and give more opportunities to young players.
Midfielder Rajinder Singh and striker Shilanand Lakra were included in the team in place of three players from the bronze medal-winning Paris Olympics team: Shamsher Singh, Gurjant Singh, and Nilakanta Sharma.
This move proved to be a masterstroke as both young players made a significant impact in the recently concluded tournament, despite scoring only one goal each.
More changes could be seen in India’s core team in the future, especially after the FIH Junior World Cup to be held in Chennai and Madurai from November 28 to December 10.
Considering the World Cup to be held in Belgium and the Netherlands from August 14 to 30 next year and the Asian Games starting in Japan from September 19, India may try some promising junior players at the senior level after the Junior World Cup.
The chairman of Hockey India’s selection committee has already made it clear that some underperforming senior players will be gradually phased out of the team.
He said, “We must also focus on emerging players while building our team. If we remove six or seven senior players from the team at once, it will not be effective. It is the selection committee’s responsibility to ensure that senior players who are not performing well are gradually removed from the team.”
He added, “A lot of time has passed since the Paris Olympics. We had planned this long ago. If we do not give young players opportunities in smaller tournaments, we cannot directly play them in the World Cup.”
India’s schedule from October to December is quite busy, including participation in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Malaysia besides a Test tour to South Africa. Head coach Craig Fulton may try some junior players in these tournaments.
After a disappointing performance in the European leg of the FIH Pro League, the Asia Cup title came as a relief for the team led by captain Harmanpreet Singh.
The team overcame a slow start to dominate this continental competition and won the title for the fourth time.
They last won the trophy in Dhaka in 2017. The team had previously become Asia Cup champions in Kuala Lumpur in 2003 and in Chennai in 2007.
Although India performed well, its start in the tournament was not as strong. The host team had to work hard to secure wins against China and Korea by 4-3 and 3-2 respectively in the pool stage.
Their campaign gained momentum after defeating weak Kazakhstan 15-0.
Fulton said, “Our start was not good, and the players knew it. We found our rhythm after the match against Kazakhstan. That big win boosted the players’ confidence.”
A 2-2 draw against Korea in the Super Four stage once again brought India back to reality.
The team then improved their game, defeating Malaysia 4-1 and then China 7-0.
An encouraging aspect of this campaign was the fitness of the Indian players. In the extremely hot and humid weather of Rajgir, the Indian players played seven high-pressure matches within 10 days, which is proof of their excellent fitness levels.
It was very pleasing to see better coordination between the defense line, midfield, and forward line in this tournament.
The team succeeded in improving the weak performance of the defense line in the initial matches.
Indian midfield was skillfully commanded by players like experienced Manpreet Singh, Hardik Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, and young Rajinder.
Another aspect that drew attention was the excellent performance of the strikers. Abhishek, Sukhjeet Singh, Mandeep Singh, Lakra, and Dilpreet Singh scored some excellent field goals.
Abhishek was the best player in attack and also won the ‘Player of the Tournament’ award. Meanwhile, Lakra, who returned to the national team after a two-year injury, also performed brilliantly in
