India finished their hockey campaign with bronze medal at the recently-concluded Indonesia Asian Games. In spite of not having the desired result – the gold – for some upcoming youngsters in the team it was a wonderful experience of taking part in the Asiad, one of them being Harmanpreet Singh.
The youngster first burst into limelight when India won the Junior World Cup at Lucknow. Harmanpreet played an active role in that triumph. Since then transition to the senior team has been smooth. The defender is currently in Bhubaneswar, part of the core group who are attending a month long coaching camp. He took time off to speak to Shambhu Datta Mishra. Excerpts…
How would you describe your bronze-winning campaign at the Asian Games?
Frankly, we expected better results. It was a learning curve for us. We never expected a semifinal loss to Malaysia. But even then we have to move on and produce better results in the future. We cannot allow that loss to affect us on a permanent basis.
Do you think India could have won gold?
Yes of course. We made some errors at crucial stages, against Malaysia. But what is done is done. Now it’s all about what we will do next. As I said, we have to move on and find out what went wrong, try to rectify those errors and try not to repeat those in next tournaments.
Plans must be afoot to rectify the errors. Shed some light on it.
Look, mistakes happen. But we need to figure out what went wrong and where. So the first thing we do is we watch the match videos. Minor, major… all mistakes we identify and plan and train accordingly. These activities help us develop ourselves and improve our performances. And it ultimately helps us in the field as a team as well.
How was the dressing room atmosphere after the semifinal loss?
Frankly, like… we were shattered. Quite upset with what had happened. Emotionally, physically we were torn apart. But these situations make us stronger as a team. The seniors helped us overcome that tough period and motivated us. They told us that we have to focus on the next game against Pakistan as it was the bronze medal match. The pain of failing to win the gold will probably never heal; but then we did not return empty-handed.
India managed to create a couple of records to their name? Eighty goals in the event including 76 in the group stage and 26-0 against Hong Kong.
We are happy with the records but in comparison to what we missed (gold), it’s nothing. Yes, the figures do indicate that our goal-scoring consistency has increased.
The result somehow made it tough for the 2020 Olympics qualification?
Yes to some extent. But as I said, it’s not the end of the road. We have several tournaments where we can make the difference. If I speak of this year, two major tournaments are coming up shortly one after another. First, the Asian Champions Trophy, (October 18-28) at Muscat and then World Cup, (November 28 to December 16) in Bhubaneswar. So we will prepare accordingly.
How will you prepare for the Asian Champions Trophy?
We are training hard. Hopefully we will be a much better team this time around and try our best to win the tournament. It will be hot and humid at Muscat so we are here to get acclimatised to that kind of condition. We will try to show everyone that, that (Asian Games semifinals) was a bad day for us.
It’s been only a couple of days since you’ve arrived here. Weather looks challenging. Isn’t it?
Indeed. But this is what we want for our next tournament. And weather conditions are not in our hand, it’s natural. So we need to adopt the conditions (out here) as quickly as possible, and we will do so.
You have played under three different coaches – Roelant Oltmans, Sjoerd Marijne and now Harendra Singh. What are the differences?
Look, whoever comes to coach a team, they are the best in business. Their strategies may differ, a bit though but not much, but we have to accept that. Whatever they say or whatever they plan, that is only for us to improve and provide better results. And if I speak about Harendra Sir, most of the youngsters, including me, have played under him in the 2016 Junior World Cup. So we know about his methods. He also knows us well and our style. So it is a plus point for us.
The stadium wears a new look now from when you last visited here.
Yes, much different I would say. I remember the last time I visited here for the World Hockey League Finals (in December 2017). And the stadium has changed a lot. I remember a game against Argentina where it was raining heavily. But we were stunned the way the fans turned out that day. They were cheering throughout the match. It was a great boost.