August was a good month for sport in India. Neeraj Chopra won India’s first gold at the World Athletics Championships with a throw of 88.17m in Budapest; R. Praggnanandhaa emerged runner-up in the FIDE Chess World Cup in Baku; and the national hockey team won the Asian Champions Trophy in Chennai. The last of those was more relief than joy, at least for the fans who had, after the Tokyo Olympics bronze high, seen India crash out before reaching the World Cup quarterfinals at home this January. Tokyo, it seemed, was not a false dawn.
The next challenge is the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China (September 23-October 8). New India coach Craig Fulton, a South African who was assistant coach with the World Cup-winning Belgian team, said the other teams would hunt India, the top ranked Asian team.
Up for grabs in Hangzhou is direct qualification for Paris Olympics next year. The team is currently training at the Sports Authority of India campus in Bengaluru. The players spend more than 250 days a year at the centre, away from family and under a rigorous regimen.
On September 2, just before the searing noontime, THE WEEK met both Fulton and captain Harmanpreet Singh to know what was cooking in the camp. They spoke about a range of topics, including the focus on defence, improved fitness of the players, the importance of mental conditioning, chances at the Asian Games and the main threats, the proposed revival of the Hockey India League and the India-Pakistan rivalry. Edited excerpts from the interviews:
Q/ Where does India stand going into the Asian Games?
A/ It is an exciting time. Before I joined, I wanted our team to be the No 1 team in Asia, and try and back that up and be consistent in that space. So, there is the challenge and what comes with that is obviously all the expectation. That is always going to be there because if you want to move the needle, something has to change.
We are doing well. I think the group is confident. It is fit. We have a nice team ethic. The guys work really hard together and it is a good experienced team, [with] some youth that have joined.
India has made real progression in the last eight years. [From] eighth in Rio to now among the top three in the world. Obviously, the pinnacle of that progression was the (Olympic) bronze, which has been a fantastic foundation that has been laid.
Q/ There is very little between the top seven to ten teams. So, realistically No 3 puts you in contention for No 2 or No 1.
A/ Yeah. And, at the same time, if you get it wrong, No 4 and No 5. So, it is always who you are chasing and who is chasing you. That never ever stops.
Coming into this tournament, being ranked No 1 [in Asia], you have got an ideal goal and a realistic goal. The ideal goal is always to win. The challenge is: what is the realistic goal? How were you performing consistently in the last six months and what are you doing currently? I think on our current form we are in a good place. But, our feet are firmly on the ground. We take nothing for granted.
Q/ Are you thinking of the Olympics?
A/ No, that is too far away. We go one tournament at a time, one game, one training session at a time. I am firmly in the space of what we have done this week, reflecting, and how we are going to improve next week.
Q/ Going into the Asian Games, who do you think are the main threats? Pakistan has been on a slump.
A/ The teams that made the semifinals in the ACT (Malaysia, Japan and South Korea)―I am not saying that Pakistan is out of it―have done something right in the preparation and in the pool.
Q/ How is mental conditioning coach Paddy Upton helping the team?
A/ He has just got a lot of experience on the continent, with Indian cricket. So, the way of communicating with the Indian people, in their own culture, has helped me immensely. He has done workshops and it is important to our team. We are getting a new identity and a new way of doing things, and it is positive.
Q/ What are the team’s strengths and weaknesses?
A/ We have a strong goalkeeper situation, with three-four really good goalkeepers. Penalty corner is strong―we have one of the best in the world with Harman and we have another two-three flickers behind him. The fitness levels and skill [are good]. There is a lot of speed that Indians have naturally and they like to attack. We just need to enhance the conversions of circle entries to goal shots and maintain our high penalty corner conversion rate.
Q/ You were talking about goalkeepers. Has Krishan Pathak evolved enough to eventually fill the big shoes of P.R. Sreejesh?
A/ For sure. Krishan has had a lot of games―100 caps. Sree is on 300, but yeah. And, there is a good group of goalkeepers coming in behind that train with us, which is really important. To answer your question, Pathak is world-class on his day and can hold his own for sure.
Q/ If you win gold in the Asian Games, you get into the Olympics directly.
A/ Yeah, I mean all roads lead to qualification and we are on this journey and we are really excited about it. But we are humble around the fact that we have work to do and everyone is hunting us as the No 1 ranked team at the tournament.
The expectation is we should just win the tournament and it is never like that. We know that we have got a lot of hard work to do; we are doing it and we need to keep pushing. We go into the tournament with full confidence and if our environment is good and our culture is good, if we have done enough of the right things for the right amount of time with the right people with the right communication and the right belief, then the score takes care of itself. But, if we cut corners, we will get found out and we go again, because there is another qualification tournament in January.
At the end of the day, it never stops, because what happens after the Olympics―it is going to be another tour. You want to work in eight-year cycles.
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