Lucky to secure services of Fergus Kavanagh for Indian defenders’ camp, says Graham Reid

With an eye on making it to the Olympics, the Indian hockey administrators are trying to cover all the departments of the sport by organising special camps for the Indian players. The recent camp that has started at the Sports Authority of Indian (SAI) Centre, Bengaluru is for the Indian defenders.

Former Aussie legend Fergus Kavanagh has started training the Indian defenders ahead of the camp. The list of defenders includes Harmanpreet Singh, Varun Kumar, Birendra Lakra, Kothajit Singh Khadangbam, Surendra Kumar, Nilam Sanjeep Xess, Gurinder Singh, Amit Rohidas, Rupinder Pal Singh, Mandeep Mor, Pratap Lakra, Suman Beck and Parampreet Singh. 

Graham Reid has stated that the team was looking forward to the camp for the defenders. The Indian chief coach also explained that the players will focus on all the aspects of defence in the first few days of the camp.

"As a group we are really looking forward to this camp as we get to address some of the ongoing focus points we have identified over the last few months. One of these is of improving our defensive capabilities and we have been lucky to secure the services of former Kookaburra great Fergus Kavanagh. The first week we will be focusing on all aspects of our defence using the unique experience of Fergus’ last 10 years with Australia and more recently with Amsterdam in the Netherlands," Reid was quoted as saying by Hockey India.

Reid also spoke about the idea of putting up a good defensive performance by the side during the FIH Series Finals last month. The team will now be looking forward to stay focussed for the upcoming FIH Olympic Qualifiers later this year which is the qualifying event for the Tokyo Olympics. 

"Our concentration during the last FIH Series Final in Bhubaneswar was about “collective defensive mindset” which means that defending starts from the front and involves everyone in the team. The whole squad will be in attendance really emphasising this fact. 

"The subsequent 4 weeks will be about building a very strong basis of both physical fitness and all-round skills in preparation for our Olympic Qualifier in November. Goal scoring, PC’s, Shootouts and capitalising on our recent Goalkeeping camp will round out the next phase before going to Tokyo for the Olympic Test event in August," Reid concluded. 

Kavanagh had won the 2010 World Cup in New Delhi and the 2014 World Cup in The Hague as a part of the Australian team. 

DEFENDERS LIST: 

Harmanpreet Singh, Varun Kumar, Birendra Lakra, Kothajit Singh Khadangbam, Surendra Kumar, Nilam Sanjeep Xess, Jarmanpreet Singh, Gurinder Singh, Amit Rohidas, Rupinder Pal Singh, Mandeep Mor, Pratap Lakra, Suman Beck, Parampreet Singh.