Our focus is on sealing Olympic Qualification in November, states Manpreet Singh

Our focus is on sealing Olympic Qualification in November, states Manpreet Singh

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Manpreet Singh has stated that the upcoming few months will be crucial for the Indian hockey team and will give them a chance to capture their best form ahead of the Olympic qualifiers in November. He further discussed that the recently appointed coach and his interactions so far, with the team.

With the Indian men’s senior hockey team yet to seal their spot in the Tokyo Olympics set to be held next year, upcoming tours and test events will provide them with the opportunity to be at their best ahead of the final round of qualifications.

"The next three months are critical for us and whatever we are doing is with focus on sealing our Olympic Qualification in November,” Manpreet Singh was quoted saying by the Times of India.

India is scheduled to play in the test event for the Tokyo Olympics next, between the 17th and 21st of August. They will start their campaign against Malaysia, followed by matches against New Zealand and Japan. It will then be going on a tour of Belgium from September 23 up to October 5. They will end the year by playing the Olympic qualifiers slated to start on October 26.

"Our main priority right now is to qualify for the Olympics but at the same time we don't want to come under pressure and be worried about who our opponent is going to be. Our focus right now is to work on our shortcomings and improve collectively as a team,” the skipper explained.

In April, Graham Reid was appointed as the team’s head coach and the team has found reasonable success under him. In their last tournament which was the FIH Series Finals held in Bhubaneswar, the team ran rampant and ended as champions, defeating South Africa 5-1 in the final.

"The good thing working under Graham Reid is that he has closely followed India's performance over the years and he understands our game well so in that sense he isn't changing our style. He continues to reinforce that our attack and counter-attacks are our biggest strengths but the focus of our training is to ensure we are defending and finishing well with continued emphasis on speed and fitness," Manpreet revealed.

Currently dealing with a string of injuries to the likes of Chinglensana Singh and Lalit Upadhyay, the team will be hoping for it’s crucial players to be fit by the time their qualification campaign’s final leg kicks off.

"These players are missed in the team and we are hopeful they will be fully fit by the Olympic qualifiers,” Singh concluded.

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