2018 Hockey World Cup | India are prepared for shoot-outs, asserts Harendra Singh
After losing two heartbreaking matches in the shoot-out stage, India hockey coach Harendra Singh claims his side are totally prepared if they find themselves in a similar situation again. Singh said that he will count on the seven junior players who played under him in the 2016 Junior World Cup.
The Indian hockey team is gearing up to challenge favorites - Australia, Germany and the Netherlands - as the former get ready to host the 2018 Hockey World Cup in the state of Odisha. Having lost to the Aussies in the final of the Champions Trophy early this year in the shoot-outs, Indian hockey coach Harendra Singh, backed his side to progress if they find themselves in a similar situation this time around.
“In shoot-outs, it is anybody’s game and time is not on your side. I’m very confident that Sreejesh will stop 2-3. The rest, of the five, I expect at least three of the players to score,” Harendra said in his first press conference before the start of the Hockey World Cup in Bhubaneshwar.
The second loss in the shoot-out stage came in the Asian Games semi-final against Malaysia which ended India’s hopes of a direct ticket to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Against Australia, India could not get a single shot past the opposing goalkeeper in the shootouts while Australia scored thrice. In fact, India has lost four of the last five shootouts since 2016 and only on two occasions did they manage to score three or more goals.
Singh and the rest of the Indian team would definitely want to win every match in regulation time, but they have also spent a good amount of time in the practice sessions to improve their conversion rates in shoot-outs and worked on custodian PR Sreejesh’s technique under the bar. Manpreet Singh & Co. begin their campaign against South Africa in Group C and will hope to secure a qualification to the knockout phase as soon as possible before worrying too much about shoot-outs.
In addition to that, Harendra also spoke about the seven members of the squad which won the 2016 Junior World Cup under him. Singh said that they will be key to his side’s performance having already experienced the atmosphere of playing in front of a home crowd before.
“They already have a taste of playing in from out 20,000-25,000 home spectators. It
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