Having bagged all six points from their last home leg double-header against Germany, the Indian men’s hockey team consolidated their lead at the top of the FIH Pro League points table.
With 27 points from 12 matches, the table-toppers India now have a 10-point gap with second-placed Germany. The team led by Amit Rohidas registered 3-0 and 3-1 wins against Germany last week to finish the home leg on a solid note.
Reflecting on the performance India captain Amit said, “The second game was tough against Germany. They played really well. I feel we lacked a bit in finishing. I think this is the area we need to improve upon when we play next. But, overall both the wins were really good for the team.”
Meanwhile, the Indian men’s team chief coach Graham Reid stated, “Firstly, full marks to Germany, they came out and worked in the second game, you know, just unlucky couple of times. But, I am very proud of the way how our players played in both the matches.”
He further added, “I said to the boys that from these two games, we will gain a lot from a learning perspective. We set ourselves a target of getting six points, and it’s always good to get six points from back-to-back matches.”
“But also we were looking at the last two matches against Germany as if we were playing semi-Final and the Gold Medal game. So, we tried putting some value to the game because one of the things that we miss in Pro League sometimes is the opportunity to play a quarter or a semi or a final.”
With four Pro League matches to go against teams like Belgium and Netherlands, the Indian chief coach said, “The number of points we have is because of the number of games we’ve played, so yeah, we are on the top at the moment, but we have four games left against Belgium and Netherlands, and they are the ones that will determine, where we stand. The guys get a break now, I get a bit of a break for two weeks and then back into it really hard.”
“We’ve still four matches to go against very strong teams like Belgium and Netherlands, We’ve to carry this momentum throughout the season and play with the same intensity to finish on top,” Amit concluded.
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