New Delhi, Aug 3 (IANS) Former captain of the Indian men’s hockey team, Viren Rasquinha believes that the Harmanpreet Singh-led side will face a tough battle against Great Britain in their quarterfinal clash on Sunday. India finished second in Pool B with 10 points in five matches. In their last match against Australia, the Indian team scripted history with a 3-2 win, their first victory over the Kookaburras since the 1972 Olympics.
Rasquinha lauded the Indian team for playing to their potential against Australia but also warned them of the stiff challenge in the knockout stage.
“I think we have very good chances against Great Britain. It’s a fairly good draw for us. We played very well to finish second in Pool B and the last two matches against Belgium and Australia. If you dispassionately keep the results aside, they played very good hockey. Obviously, the result against Australia is fantastic because I’ve been there several times and I know how difficult is it to win against Australia in a major event where they come so prepared,” Rasquinha told IANS on Saturday.
India lost both Pro League encounters against Great Britain in June before the Olympics. The veteran player cautioned India of their opponent’s potential and advised them to play their top game.
“It’s been a good performance, but we also have to know that we’ve to forget this result. The knockout phase is a new game altogether and we got to be really on top of our game. Holland (Netherlands), Germany, Great Britain, and Spain, the four teams that come from the other pool, are equally strong. Anyone is capable of beating anyone in the world hockey. In the Pro League, they (India) have not had the best of results against Great Britain so it’s going to be tough,” added the Olympics expert on JioCinema & Sports18.
The 43-year-old former midfielder said that India will have to replicate their aggressive hockey against Great Britain to secure the semifinal spot.
“The good thing in the match against Australia is that we played to our strength. This is the kind of hockey that India excel at when playing at a high tempo, playing as direct as possible, being very aggressive on the counter-attacks and when you lose ball possession, every single player has to fight hard to come back into the defense to make it difficult for the opposition. I think the work rate of the entire team was phenomenal against Australia. We’ll need to do this again as Great Britain also play at a very very high tempo. This is something we need to make sure,” Rasquinha concluded.
India will take on Great Britain in the quarterfinal match at 1:30 pm IST on Sunday.
–IANS
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