FIH Series Finals | I always try and respect the opposition no matter who they are, says Graham Reid

Indian men’s hockey team’s first step towards qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics will begin from today evening when they will take on Russia in the FIH Series Finals in Bhubaneswar. This tournament is the first major assignment for the newly-appointed head coach Graham Reid who took over the Indian hockey team in April. 

With India getting ready to play against world no.22 Russia, no. 21 Poland and no. 43 Uzbekistan, coach Reid has mentioned that he respects the opponents no matter their rankings. 

“Complacency for me is not an option in high performance sport. I always try and respect the opposition no matter who they are. They can always score a goal against you and there is no referral here as well,” Reid told PTI.

“World ranking is something that FIH uses to put teams in a particular order but on any given day any team can beat another.World hockey has got very close. For me I know what I can control and that’s what I will be focussing on doing. Whatever happens in terms of results will work its way.”

India’s first game in Group A will be played on Thursday evening and they will want to start the tournament on a big note. However, before the start of the tournament Reid has said that the Indian management doesn’t know much about Russia and they will treat the Russians like a “real threat”.

“We don’t know too much about Russia so we will be treating them like a real threat. We would be preparing for Russia like we do for any good opposition,” the coach explained.

After taking charge of the Indian men’s side, Reid held a practice camp in Bengaluru and the team also travelled to Australia for games against the WA Thundersticks, Australia A and the senior Australia side. The Manpreet Singh-led side were defeated in both the games against Australia A but Reid is of the belief that the tour gave them the focus for last few weeks.

“The good part of the Australian team was that it gave us focus for these few weeks. I see real focus now in the boys. They understand this is where we need to be and what we need to do get to,” Reid concluded.