Playing again with France
in the Europe Tour, India
will field their experienced players such as drag-flicker VR Raghunath,
defender Kothajit Singh and forward SV Sunil. Along with them, the Tour will
also see the return of SK Uthappa, Danish Mujtaba and Mandeep Singh, who are
taking this opportunity to enhance their skills for the international level
matches. Led by Sardar Singh, the team also includes young players such as
Talwinder Singh and Mohd Amir Khan, who are looking forward to gain experience
in the international arena.
On the other hand, France
is gearing up for their upcoming UNIBET EuroHockey Championships 2015, which
will be held from 21-29 August in London . World’s top teams such as Germany , The Netherlands and England will
feature in this tournament. Playing against FIH Rank # 8 India , France will get a vital opportunity
for their practice before the all-important tournament.
Speaking before the first match against France, Roelant
Oltmans, Director, High Performance and Indian Men Chief Coach stated, “Though
we have beaten France
in our previous encounters, we are not taking them lightly. They are preparing
for the EuroHockey Championships 2015, which is a very important tournament for
them and they will utilize all the opportunities perfectly before the start of
the tournament. The Indian boys are well-prepared and we have strategies to
counter them. The Tour will help us to understand our strategies better and the
strength of the players. I am very hopeful that we will start our campaign with
a positive note.”
Speaking after a practice session, Captain Sardar Singh
said, “France
is a good team and they have some good players. We can’t take them lightly and
we will play with our man-to-man strategy. In our last match in FINTRO HWL
Semi-Final in Belgium ,
they stunned us with their speed and an early goal. This time, we won’t give
them room for surprise attacks and will try to keep the ball possession in our
side. Some key players are back in the team which will strengthen our defence
and forward line. We have some young players also, it’s very good for them as
well as for us to see new passion in the team. We are expecting a good result
in the first match and we will give our level best during this tour.”
HI Press release
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