Asian Games 2023: Despite defeats in the ongoing leg of the Hockey Pro League, India Men’s Hockey Team skipper Harmanpreet Singh remains optimistic. Six more matches are left in the ongoing Pro League and Harmanpreet is confident that his team can bounce back as they are preparing for the upcoming Asian Games 2023. Follow Hockey Pro League 2023 LIVE updates on InsideSport.IN
Harmanpreet Singh confident of Indian Hockey team ‘bouncing back’ in their preparation for Asian Games 2023
India is the highest-ranked team in Asia and has a great chance of clinching the Gold medal in the upcoming Asian Games. The Men in Blue are trying to use the ongoing Pro League for their preparation towards the continental tournament.
Playing under a new coach in Craig Fulton, the team suffered two successive losses in the European leg of the Pro League recently. Ahead of their second leg, Captain Harmanpreet Singh on Thursday said that India can bounce despite back-to-back defeats.
“We are not letting the two losses last week play on our minds. We still have six more matches to play and we know that if we play to the structure and execute good finishes, we will be able to return to the top of the pool table,” he said ahead of the match against Belgium.
He said the prime target for the team would be to improve its defence. “Though we didn’t create that many field goals, we did get some good PCs. There are some areas we also worked on, in these past few days and focus will continue to be on defending well,” he added.
India came to Europe as table toppers. They began this leg of the league with a 1-2 loss against Olympic champions Belgium. They then went down 2-4 against Great Britain to drop down to second position. Great Britain have 25 points from 10 matches while India have accumulated 19 points from 10 matches.
They next face Belgium yet again on Friday, 2nd June 2023. Indian skipper Harmanpreet Singh created history in the Pro League with 35 goals. It is the most number of goals scored by any player in a single edition of the league.
After finishing their ongoing leg in London, India will then travel to Netherlands and will face Netherlands and Argentina in four more matches. These six matches will serve as India’s preparation for the Asian Games. Before the Games in September, they will also play in the Asian Champions Trophy scheduled from 3rd to 12th August 2023.
Harmanpreet Singh confident of Indian Hockey team ‘bouncing back’ in their preparation for Asian Games 2023
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