New Delhi, Nov 28 (UNI) Two years since the conduct of the Odisha Men's Hockey World Cup, International teams that participated in the prestigious event fondly recall the incredible atmosphere in Bhubaneswar between 27 November 2018 to 16 December 2018.
"I'm still missing the people and ambience of the Odisha Men's Hockey World Cup 2018 in Bhubaneswar. We had a great four weeks with the team and I cannot wait to come back to India," exclaimed the Netherlands goalkeeper Pirmin Blaak.
His compatriot Thijs van Dam however rued missing out on the Gold, having lost in the Final to Belgium. "The hockey vibe in India makes you want to perform. I can't wait to play there again because last time we left India with a medal, but not with the gold," he said.
Talking about India's outing in the quadrennial event, Skipper Manpreet Singh said, "I think looking back, and analyzing that game (Quarter Finals against Netherlands) so many times, I feel we didn't bring our A game to that match. We missed too many chances and struggled to come back into the game after Netherlands took the lead by a goal."
"There are times, we talk about that game with Chief Coach Graham because he was with Netherlands back then and we try and get his perspective about that match. There are definitely a lot of takeaways from that tournament and we have certainly become a better team from those experiences. I feel we play much better against teams like Netherlands and Belgium now, and our performance against them at the FIH Hockey Pro League earlier this year is a testimony to it,"
he further added,
MORE UNI NC 1614