Indian hockey's major problem lies at grassroots, asserts Deepak Thakur
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Former Indian hockey striker Deepak Thakur has stated that it's high time to strengthen the grassroots of Indian hockey as the major problem lies there. He also mentioned that the current Indian side doesn't have a quality striker and the scoring ability of the forwards needs to improve.
After finishing second at the Champions Trophy in Breda, Netherlands, the Indian hockey team didn't do a great job at the Asian Games as they lost to Malaysia in the semifinals after finishing at the top in the group stage. Although the Indian side has seen remarkable development under coach Harendra Singh, the performance against Malaysia in a crucial tie raised many eyebrows. Former hockey striker Thakur lashed out at the plans of development at the grassroots level and termed it as a reason of the failure of the Indian side.
“We need to strengthen our
The Olympian, who is now coaching the India Oil team in Murugappa Gold Cup, said that many European teams have analysed India's performance.
“Look at teams like Belgium and Argentina. Where were they a decade ago and where are they now? They have improved so much. Now, it is very difficult for us to get the better of them. We’ll never become the world beaters unless we stop playing copy-paste hockey... Indians are probably the most
The 37-year-old, who was once recognised as one of the quality strikers in world hockey and formed a formidable Indian forward line also spoke about the forward line of the current Indian side. He said that there is an urgent need of changing the mindset of the Indian strikers to be successful at the bigger stages. He also said that the Indian strikers lack sharpness inside the D.
“A striker should wait for a pass inside the D so that he takes less time to hit
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