At the Rio Olympics in 2016, under coach Roelant Oltmans, the Indian men’s hockey team made it to the quarter-finals where they lost to silver medalists Belgium 3-1. The team was not at its best defensively as they conceded 15 goals in the competition and scored only nine. Current captain Manpreet Singh has featured in the last two Olympics for India. He was just 19 during the London Games in 2012. From then to now, he has seen a lot. Today, he is the skipper of the national team. Matured, tactful with his focus firmly set on winning more.
The Field caught up with Avtar Singh a year after Rio, to find out how his life has changed.
Lives of most athletes in the world revolve around the Olympics. The four-year stretch between these events is spent on correcting the wrongs and learning from each mistake and re-doubling efforts to master the traits that led to success.
For India’s hockey team, there wasn’t much to take away from the Rio Games. We weren’t happy as such with our performance. We drew a match with Canada, a team we felt was within our ability to defeat. We had a good match against Belgium afterwards, but it was them who went on to clinch silver and not us. The feeling in the camp was that we could have reached the semi-finals.
We are learning from our mistakes. We are working on them. The road to recovery has not been smooth for the team. The Hockey World League earlier this year, was not a happy hunting ground, as we had hoped. There too, we lost to teams like Canada and Malaysia. We conceded a lot of goals just like in Rio.
Tirelessly improving our defence
It was clear to us that our defence was really fragile. We were not playing our natural game. Our defence was not good at all. In the year since, we have worked extensively on that aspect of the game. The team along with the coaching staff has worked tirelessly on improving our defensive capabilities. An emphasis has been put on improving the team’s defensive structure. Our penalty corner defence has improved manifold since Rio.
A lot of work has gone into helping players in the backline improve their effectiveness. The results of this exercise have already borne positive results. In the recently concluded European tour, we beat Netherlands twice. The sound defence helped us compete well against teams like Belgium and Austria as well.
With more games under our belt, I am certain we can keep improving as a team. This is not to say there aren’t other areas where work needs to be done. There is plenty of scope for improvement. We could attack a lot more. As time passes and the players get used to the new style, I am sure results will follow.
The team has already shown that it has a lot to offer. We learnt many thing after Rio and have been successful at times in avoiding those mistakes. We won bronze in the Azlan Shah Cup and like then, I am sure more success will follow in bigger tournaments if we maintain discipline in the ranks and lift our game in crunch situations.
Every competition is important
These players have shown they are not the ones to be bogged down by losses. They are willing to fight and learn from their past failures.
In the last five years, Indian hockey has improved a lot. I am certain that we have the team that can clinch medals in top events such as the Olympics.
Before Rio, I was part of the India team that went for the London Games in 2012. It was a debacle. We tried to improve from there. We did well to pounce back. We won a medal in the Asian Games. The team also went onto end India’s 32-year-old medal drought in the Champions Trophy. We started winning many competitions. But, we know we can still do better.
We need to get back to winning ways in big competitions. From now till next year, there are many where we can look to expand further.
From the upcoming Asia Cup in Dhaka to the World Cup in 2018, every competition is important for us. We need to pull our socks up. Asia Cup is next on our radar as well as the Hockey World League Final in Bhubaneshwar. Next target, though, will be the Commonwealth Games and the World Cup. All this while keeping one eye on the 2020 Olympics, which is just three years away now.
As told to Bibhash Chatterjee.
Do you prefer your favourite sports stories delivered straight to your inbox every weekday? We have got you covered. Subscribe to The Field’s newsletter.
