Getting into quarter-final would be first hurdle, says Manpreet Singh

Getting into quarter-final would be first hurdle, says Manpreet Singh

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Indian hockey skipper for the World Cup, Manpreet Singh has stated that winning the group stage matches and qualifying for the quarter-final has been earmarked as the sideā€™s first priority. India would play South Africa, Belgium, and Canada in the three group stage matches of their pool.

The tournament will be seeing the top 16 teams of the world competing against each other. There are four pools with four teams in each and Indiaā€™s pool consists of South Africa, Canada, and Belgium apart from them. India would commence their campaign against South Africa at the Kalinga Stadium. The World Cup has been scheduled to start from November 28 and the newly appointed Indian skipperĀ since the last two tournaments, Manpreet Singh has stated that the sideā€™s first priority has been to get to the knockout stages.

"There is no doubt we want to win every match in the Pool Stage, earn the three points from each match, and top the Pool to make the Quarter Final. That is our first hurdle. It's the World Cup and every team will come with an intention of winning and we do not want to take any team lightly, be it South Africa, Canada or World No.3 Belgium," said Manpreet in the press conference, reported PTI.

While India has previously played against Belgium and Canada, they are yet to play a proper game against South Africa. However, Manpreet sounded confident that they could overcome the Proteas.

"Though we haven't played them in any major tournament, we played a practice match against South Africa during the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. That match gave us an idea of how they play. Though we won we don't want to go by the past result. We play them in our first match and it's always good to get off to a winning start in any tournament," said the 26-year-old.

India has been comfortable against Belgium, beating them at the FIH Champions Trophy in Breda and also in last year's Hockey World League Final. However, it is Canada who could be a problem for the hosts. After drawing against India in the round robin league at the Rio Olympics, Canada went on to beat India 3-2 in the 2017 Hockey World League Semi Final in London. Manpreet, however, refused to see past results while preparing for the future.

"It was a forgettable outing for us but I believe we have improved as a team in the past two years and we have learnt from every tournament. If we play our best hockey, who we are playing should not matter. Even against Belgium, if we are able to score early then the pressure will be on them. For now, our team is focused on winning the three points from each match in Pool C," he added.

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