Friday 29th, March 2024
canara news

Indian hockey squad leaves for Sultan Azlan Shah Cup

Published On : 28 Feb 2018


Bengaluru, (IANS): An 18-member Indian team led by experienced midfielder Sardar Singh left for the 27th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup on Tuesday night, Hockey India announced.

The team will begin their campaign on March 3 against 2016 Olympic Gold Medallist Argentina.

Speaking about the team's preparations for the tournament, Sardar expressed confidence about their prospects in the prestigious annual event which will see World No.1 Australia, World No.2 Argentina, England, Ireland, hosts Malaysia in the fray.

"It will be a good competition and Sultan Azlan Shah Cup has for long been a tournament that sets the pace for the rest of the calendar year and doing well here will be important for us. We have had a gruelling camp in SAI, Bengaluru where the focus was on taking our attack and defensive skills to the next level," stated the 31-year-old midfielder ahead of the team's departure.

In the previous edition, India had finished third after beating New Zealand 4-0 while Great Britain won the title after beating Australia 4-3 in the final.

In the Pool Stage though India had a mixed outing with a 2-2 draw against Great Britain in their first match, followed by 3-0 win against New Zealand in their second match, but lost to Australia 1-3 before a narrow 4-3 win against Japan.

But it was the 0-1 loss against hosts Malaysia that had dented their chance to enter the final.

"It is extremely important to start the tournament well. A good match against Argentina will give the team the confidence for the rest of the matches to follow. Every match in the Pool Stage will be important to ensure a place in the final,"

"We have beaten teams like Australia and England in the past and have done well against Argentina too, we just need to ensure we play in a structured manner and execute the team's plans perfectly," he said.

Since the tournament's inception in 1983, the Indian team has lifted the coveted Cup five times (1985, 1991, 1995, 2009, while they shared the trophy with South Korea in 2010).

In 2016, when Sardar last captained the Indian team, they had ended the tournament with a silver medal after losing 0-4 to Australia in the final.

"It is always a proud moment to lead the Indian team. But my role will be no different from what I have been doing in the camp where we seniors have taken the responsibility to guide the junior players in the squad.

"At tournament too, it will be important to help them shake off the initial nervousness and I am confident with senior players like Ramandeep Singh, S.K. Uthappa, Surender Kumar and Talwinder Singh and very talented junior players, we will come up with a good show," signed off the charismatic midfielder.







More News

Mumbai Still Coronavirus Red Zone, Restrictions Remain, Says Police
Mumbai Still Coronavirus Red Zone, Restrictions Remain, Says Police
SOCCER ULLAL WIN DENZ FOUNDATION ALL INDIA FOOTBALL TROPHY IN MANGALORE
SOCCER ULLAL WIN DENZ FOUNDATION ALL INDIA FOOTBALL TROPHY IN MANGALORE
 ICICI Bank will grow retail loan disbursement in Karnataka by 30% to Rs. 13,700 crore in FY’20
ICICI Bank will grow retail loan disbursement in Karnataka by 30% to Rs. 13,700 crore in FY’20

Write your Comments

Disclaimer: Please write your correct name and email address. Kindly do not post any personal, abusive, defamatory, infringing, obscene, indecent, discriminatory or unlawful or similar comments. canaranews.com will not be responsible for any defamatory message posted under this article.

Please note that under 66A of the IT Act, sending offensive or menacing messages through electronic communication service and sending false messages to cheat, mislead or deceive people or to cause annoyance to them is punishable. It is obligatory on CANARANEWS to provide the IP address and other details of senders of such comments, to the authority concerned upon request.

Hence, sending offensive comments using canaranews will be purely at your own risk, and in no way will canaranews.com be held responsible.