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“ Kya Olympics mein aisa karega ?” It’s a little line that Harmanpreet Singh says is repeated often during the hours and hours of training they undergo at the SAI Center in Bengaluru when some aspect of a drill doesn’t go well. Away from the spotlight, as they sweat it out in the confines of their training camp, it is a way for the players to keep reminding themselves of the task ahead of them in Paris. “There is a voice that reminds us that we shouldn’t make such mistakes at the Olympics,” Harmanpreet Singh said. “It’s something that motivates us every day, we are reminding ourselves that it is not going to be easy there, we will not even get that many chances within a match. Even if there is a 50% chance, how do you convert it into 100%, that is up to us, and everyone knows this.” The pressure will be immense, as it always is on the Indian hockey team. The team, and the legion of fans, have tasted the success of a long-awaited medal in Tokyo. Now there is a hunger to repeat it or go even better. And for that, Harmanpreet and Co have to hit the ground running on Saturday, because there will be no easing into the Olympic Games. First, in front of them in Pool B are New Zealand, ironically the team that ended the Indian team’s campaign at their last global event. The 2023 World Cup was supposed to be a dream chance for India to shine at home but they were stunned by NZ at the crossover stage. It was tough on the entire squad, but especially so for Harmanpreet Singh, who was leading the side for the first time at a major event and his main weapon – the drag flick – deserted him. And it is against NZ that he and his teammates ensure there are no hiccups. “I think such a period came for the first time in my life, this had never happened to me,” Harmanpreet recalled. “On the field with the ball or without the ball, I think whatever was my game, I played that but definitely the PCs hurt us. From there, to make a comeback is very important, your confidence and you know technique, that is important so I focused on that and the team helped me a lot in that. There might have been doubts from the outside, but the players who I spend all the time with there are no negative comments and they have been supporting me.” That defeat against NZ also effectively ended Graham Reid’s reign and in came Craig Fulton. Since taking over as the head coach, Fulton has gone about changing India’s ethos without altering the personnel too much. The “Bollywood hockey”, as Reid used to put it, has made way for more pragmatic gameplay. Focus on structures. Defend to win. Get your connections right. Play the percentages. “We want to be hitting that first phase well, as confident and as proactive as we possibly can. We want to be on the front foot from game one. That’s the number one priority.. It is of course tournament play, and things can go up and down, there will be upsets. In the Pro League leg of Europe, we had good opportunities in every game but we didn’t start matches well, and out of eight games, in four of them we conceded in the first five minutes. And then we ended up losing games by one goal in those tight games because of poor decisions on our part,” Fulton pointed out. While reading too much into Pro League results is futile, the tournament did give plenty of areas for Fulton to work on, something he admitted he’d much rather do than find out issues when in Paris. The team has met the early benchmark that Fulton set when he took over – of being the best in Asia – but the struggles have continued against the likes of Australia, Belgium. Both those powerhouses are in India’s Pool and they will be opponents that await them at the end of the group stage. So going into those matches with quarterfinals qualification at stake is a situation India can’t afford to be in. Starting off well, therefore, is incredibly important. As Fulton says, “Yeah, it’s everything.” 27 July, IND VS NZL, 9 pm IST 29 July, IND vs ARG, 4.15 pm IST 30 July, IND vs IRE, 4.45 pm IST 1 August, IND vs BEL, 1.30 pm IST 2 August, IND vs AUS, 4.45 pm IST None
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