Consistency
RAIPUR: Manpreet Singh is a livewire in the Indian hockey team, always talking to his teammates, egging them on, making his views known if someone makes a mistake. Off the field too, he is a smooth-talker and handles the media with confidence.
This gift of the gab has seen the young midfielder from Punjab being included in the leadership group in the Indian team and marks him as a future captain. He also has experience of leading the country, having captained the junior India team.
As coach Roelant Oltmans gets his wards ready for their final Pool B match against the Netherlands in the Hockey World League Final on Monday, Manpreet was the centre of attraction, having played a crucial role in the team’s fighting display against Olympic champions Germany in their previous match.
Manpreet had been the cynosure of all eyes when India beat the Dutch 3-2 in the 2014 Champions Trophy at Bhubaneswar, when they last met.
“Our performance against Germany on Saturday has given us a lot of boost and the fact that we defeated the Netherlands in Bhubaneswar adds to our confidence. Holland is a very strong team and we would like to repeat our performance of Bhubaneswar against them tomorrow,” Manpreet said on Monday.
Along with a video of their Bhubaneswar encounter, Dutch coach Oltmans will also closely watch his countrymen’s close encounter with Argentina on Saturday in which they faced some anxious moments after taking a 3-0 lead.
Though the coach refused to read too much into the Dutch easing off after taking 3-0 lead and said his aim was to have India shun their heart attack-inducing “up and down” performance.
“I am pleased with our performance against Germany but the big challenge is to maintain that level until the end of the tournament. We have seen in the past sometimes we play very well and sometimes our performance is below par. It’s up and down,” Oltmans said.
Whether the coach will be successful in inculcating this habit in his players ahead of the Rio Olympics or not, he will at least hope they will at least repeat their performance against Germany.