Coach seeks players’ inputs on poor show

BHUBANESWAR: The Asian Games debacle still fresh on their minds, the Indian men’s hockey team chief coach Harendra Singh on Wednesday tasked his players to furnish him five instances of poor performance during the continental multisporting event in Indonesia.

India had lost to Malaysia in the semi-finals via penalty shoot-off and settled for a bronze after beating arch-rivals Pakistan in the third place play-off.

“It is important for every player to be accountable and also be able to criticise their own mistake. As a team activity, I have asked all players to mention five instances where they thought their own individual performance was poor during the Asian Games,” Harendra said after the team’s training session here.

India conceded a late goal after leading 2-1 and the match then went to the shoot-off.

“We were blanked out those last two-and-a-half minutes, no doubt. But, there is no need to change our whole approach to the game as the team did well throughout.”

“We paid the price for under performing but there were also a lot of positives in the entire tournament and it’s important to revisit India’s performance at the Champions Trophy where they did well against higher ranked teams,” he said.

The team is undergoing a camp at the Kalinga Hockey Stadium here ahead of the Asian Champions Trophy in Muscat, Oman from October 18 to 28.