FIH Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup 2023: India is all confident

“We are confident and fully prepared for the challenges our opponents may pose in our quest for a podium finish in the FIH Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup 2023,” says Harmanpreet Singh, captain of the home team.

“We have worked on our deficiencies of the previous World Cup where we failed to enter semi-finals,” the ace drag-flicker said, hoping that all members of the team will “stay free from any pressures of playing before the home crowd and give out their best.”

The team is in fine shape and is raring to go, says Harmanpreet claiming that all are fit, both physically and mentally, to meet the challenges of playing the World Cup. Each match is tough and we have to go match by match, he asserts.

Talking to media persons at Birsa Munda International Hockey Stadium, first time venue of a World Cup event, the Indian skipper said that the team has been practicing here in different time zones – mornings, afternoons and evenings as this steel town is known for its changing weather in winters.

The coach of the team, Graham Reid, said that India has a slight advantage of playing on home turfs, both in Rourkela and Bhubaneswar. He, however, says that weather-related playing conditions do not make much of a difference as all teams playing in the World have acclimatised themselves.

Both Graham Reid and Harmanpreet Singh admitted that the home team enjoys a slight advantage of the support of the strong home crowd. “But good teams normally play their game irrespective of the crowd support,” they said indicating that at times, they give out their best under duress even when without the crowd support.

Talking about what has gone differently since the last World Cup that was also held in Odisha, Harmanpreet Singh pointed out that “we have worked on our weaknesses. We will try not to allow our opponents to frequent our half. We have worked on minimising our mistakes in our danger zone.

“Besides, we have four drag flickers. We have variety and all our drag flickers have honed their skills well,” he said. Talking about Spain, against home India played in its opening round of the latest edition of the FIH Pro League, Harmanpreet Singh was quick to point out that the team has been improving with every outing. “We have studied their game plan and have worked on our weaknesses and strengths.

Meanwhile, other teams also had their strenuous game practice, both on the main ground and the adjacent practice ground.

Rourkela is in exciting mode as this Steel City is going to witness its first-ever World Cup match being played tomorrow. Almost all teams have been playing warm-up games against teams from other groups and pools to have a good feel of the newly laid synthetic surfaces, both in Rourkela and Bhubaneswar.

Prabhjot Singh