The Indian Hockey Team (Men’s) departed in the morning, today, for the 3 Nations Invitational Tournament which starts in Dusseldorf, Germany on June 1. The 18-member squad left from Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru, after a two-week national camp at the Sports Authority of India, Bengaluru campus.
India will play two matches each against Germany and Belgium in the tournament, which will just be the right preparation before the much awaited Hockey World League Semifinals.
Speaking about the importance of the tournament, skipper Manpreet Singh said, just before departure, “Playing top teams like Germany and Belgium (both Rio Olympic Medalists), will help us a lot ahead of the Hero Hockey World League Semi Final (Men). If we play well against them, we will gain a lot of confidence and it will give us a little more time to make minor changes in our game and iron out any mistake. We will be able to assess our performance and get ready for the bigger challenge in London.”
Indian team will try to make the most of the tournament.
Post the 3 Nations Invitational Tournament, the team will set for London to reach on June 9 for the Hero Hockey World League Semi Final (Men) where they will play practice matches against Olympic Gold Medalists Argentina and Great Britain before the start of the tournament.
“We always take practice matches seriously because doing well in a practice match means gaining the required momentum for the start of the tournament. We will also get the feel of the pitch to get a good sense of how to take penalty corners.” expressed the 24-year-old Singh.
Speaking about the team they’ll face a challenge against, the skipper added, “We cannot single out any one team as a tough team to beat because every team will play their best considering this is a prestigious tournament and also a World Cup qualifier. We cannot take any team lightly and our aim will be to start on a winning note and earn those three points.”
In the Hockey World League Semifinals, India will play their first match against Scotland (June 15), followed by Canada (June 17), Pakistan (June 18) and the Netherlands (June 20) in the pool stage.Indian team is without their regular skipper and first choice goalkeeper, PR Sreejesh who’s replaced by Akash Chikte while Vikas Dahiya is the standby goalkeeper. Chikte was the standby goalkeeper during the 2016 Men’s Hockey Asian Champions Trophy, who had to step up for an injured P.R Sreejesh and he made the most of those opportunities. Vikas Dahiya was the goalkeeper of Junior World Cup winning team.