Sardar Singh’s presence will give a lot of motivation to others, says Manpreet Singh

06/20/2018

Manpreet Singh reveals that the iconic Sardar Singh’s presence in the squad itself will serve as a motivation for the youngsters ahead of the FIH Champions Trophy. Manpreet has also added that he does not regret losing the captaincy and spoken about his admiration for skipper PR Sreejesh.

The Indian Hockey team are gearing themselves up for a tough challenge that lies ahead of them in Netherlands where they will participate in the final edition of the FIH Champions Trophy. After a disappointing outing in this year’s 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, the Indians will look to bounce back to winning ways under the leadership of captain PR Sreejesh.

One of the highlights of the Indian squad would be the revival of Sardar Singh, one of the greatest midfielders of this era, who was earlier left out of the CWG squad where India finished a disappointing fourth. Manpreet Singh, who led the team in Gold Coast, revealed that Sardar’s addition to the team served as a boost to all the youngsters in the squad who will look up to him for inspiration.

"Sardar is an immensely experienced midfielder. His presence in the midfield will give a lot of motivation to others. He has the ability to give long, skillful passes," Manpreet said before the team left for the Champions Trophy.

Manpreet also said that the Indian team is aiming for a podium finish after they were runners-up in the previous edition of the tournament. But he also added that it would not be an easy task as the opponents will be looking for a win too.

"Commonwealth Games was not good for us. We missed far too many goals. Also, we converted far too less penalty corners. We have worked very hard on scoring goals and converting penalty corners during the training sessions here at Sports Authority of India," Manpreet said.

After the CWG failure, Manpreet was replaced by PR Sreejesh as the skipper for this edition of the Champions Trophy. But the elegant midfielder displayed no regret on losing out captaincy as he admitted that he was still learning the tricks of the trade.

"No, I do not have any regrets losing captaincy. When I was a captain I used to stick to the team's game plan. I will do the same as a player too. Sreejesh was captain earlier and is an experienced player. I have lot to learn from him about captaincy," he said.

Sardar Singh’s presence will give a lot of motivation to others, says Manpreet Singh

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