World Cup stretch begins in earnest as India hockey team takes on 2018

BENGALURU: After Dutchman Roelant Oltmans’ unceremonious sacking, his countryman Sjoerd Marijne had a tough job of showing results ahead of a jampacked 2018. In his first assignment, the former women’s hockey team coach fared well securing third place at the Hockey World League Final. But the time is now to shape the team for four major tournaments this year — Commonwealth Games, Champions Trophy, Asian Games and Men’s Hockey World Cup. For the men’s hockey team, preparations have already begun in full fledge and Marijne intends to get his combinations right before a difficult period.

After a ten-day camp here at the Sports Authority of India, the team will fly to New Zealand for a four-nation series involving Japan, Belgium and the hosts. And for the Dutchman, the real test begins there. His focus remains on the young players, whom he wants to offer more game-time to get accustomed to international hockey. As many as four youngsters — Simranjeet Singh, Krishan Pathak (GK), Vivek Prasad and Dilpreet Singh — made it to the squad while veteran Sardar Singh, SV Sunil and SK Uthappa were rested.

“International exposure will help the youngsters go to the next step. After HWL Final, we can practise a lot of things and improve our game in NZ, which will be good,” he said. “We keep on rotating and search for the best combination. For that, people have to play and the seniors will have to show what they are worth.”

However, the curious case is with Sardar Singh. While he was called to the camp after being overlooked for the HWL Final, he was once again omitted from the squad. Unlike his prominent stature under Oltmans, he doesn’t seem to feature in the plans of the Dutchman, who refused to say anything about his future. For the other senior players, Marijne feels they should improve their techniques while Sunil is rested.

“We’re busy with this tournament and with this tour. Then we’ll watch further. I can’t say anything about Sardar’s future,” he said. “We have a lot of tournaments this year and with some players, they have to improve their techniques. They will train here with Jugraj (Singh). For Sunil, we have to manage his workload. He needs to rest his body.”

While in the absence of first-choice goalkeeper PR Sreejesh, Akash Chikte and Suraj Karkera managed well. Marijne wasn’t very impressed. He demands consistency and that’s what the two youngsters lacked. In their place, another member of the Junior World Cup-winning team Krishan got the nod while Sreejesh also made a comeback after almost a nine-month injury layoff.

“Akash and Suraj did show their potential but they have plenty of room for improvement. They were not consistent. With Sreejesh, we have to see how many games he can play. It’s good to start at the highest level for him when he’s just returning from injury. It will help him for the next big tournament (CWG) in April. He’s an experienced player and he must come into the big game now,” Marijne said.

No doubt, series in NZ will be one of the fewest opportunities this year India will have to get things under control. Marijne knows HWL Final show wasn’t perfect and the team needs improvements. “If we see the HWL Final, we had the most circle penetration amongst all countries. That’s good, but the conversion percentage was low. We have to work on that. As for other improvements, I know what are they but can’t reveal them,” Marijne signed off.

Squad: Goalkeepers: PR Sreejesh, Krishan Bahadur Pathak; Defenders: Harmanpreet Singh, Surender Kumar, Gurinder Singh, Varun Kumar, Rupinderpal Singh, Birendra Lakra. Midfielders: Manpreet Singh (C), Chinglensana Singh Kangujam (VC), Vivek Sagar Prasad, Harjeet Singh, Nilakanta Sharma, Simranjeet Singh and Satbir Singh; Forwards: Dilpreet Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Mandeep Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay and Armaan Qureshi.

krishnendu@newindianexpress.com