Gurjant Singh confident of making a comeback for Asian Champions Trophy: Reports

The 23-year-old striker from Amritsar has been selected for the National camp to be held in Bhubaneswar from September 16. After a terrible Asian Games campaign where the Indian side finished third, the team is now looking forward to the Asian Champions Trophy to be held from October 18 and the upcoming World Cup, which is to be held in November and December. 

Gurjant, who is a member of the core group of hockey players, seemed quite hopeful of doing well after scoring a hat-trick for ONGC in All India MCC-Murugappa Gold Cup. After the Gold Coast CWG, Gurjant was left out of the team for the Champions Trophy and then for the Asian Games.

After his recent success in the All India MCC-Murugappa Gold Cup, in an interview to TOI, Gurjant said, “I took the disappointment in my stride because I am still a member of the core group and we share our success and failure together. I am going for the national camp (to held in Bhubaneswar from September 16) and I know I have to perform well to make a comeback for the upcoming Asian Champions Trophy”.

“I don’t know why I was dropped after the Commonwealth Games. I agree I made a few mistakes, but I didn’t fare poorly in the CWG. Maybe I was dropped because of the rotation policy as they were giving a chance to other forwards too.”

The Indian forward line-up has some very good players in the form of Manpreet Singh, Dilpreeet Singh, Lalit Upadhay, and SV Sunil. Gurjant has been well aware of it and has set his eyes on scoring more number of goals stating that with almost all the strikers in the core group performing well, it would be difficult for him to grab a spot.

“My only objective now is to score goals because I don’t know how the coach will assess me. Everyone is performing well and so it will be difficult to grab a spot in the national team. But I plan to work hard and impress the coach,” the striker explained. 

Speaking about the role of Harendra Singh in the national squad, Gurjant said, “Harendra sir is a terrific strategist and stresses on the importance of improving our mental strength. He has a better understanding with the team because he has known most of us since our junior team days.’’

Gurjant concluded by saying that the loss against Malaysia in the semi-final of the Asian Games was just another bad day at the office and it was unfortunate to miss out in the shootout.