Q&A: HARENDRA SINGH
Q. Bhubaneswar’s Kalinga Stadium is hosting the Hockey World Cup between November 28 and December 16. What should fans expect?
Hockey India (HI) has become professional and it has rubbed off on the players and coaches unlike 10-20 years ago when things were different. We are currently world No. 5 out of 153 countries and headed in the right direction.
Q. Belgium, Argentina and Australia seem to be the hot favourites for the title. What’s your goal for the Indian team?
All the 16 teams are equally good. This (Indian) team has a burning desire to create history. I always set the highest target.
Q. You often talk about playing ‘simple hockey’. What exactly do you mean by that?
It means pass the ball, run, and then again receive the ball and ask yourself, what next. Don’t play to the gallery and thereby, make your team suffer for it.
Q. How critical is the role of science and technology in Indian hockey today?
I can confidently say that amongst the Olympics disciplines in India, hockey ranks first in imbibing technology and modern science. For the World Cup, we’ve been using modern software and coding system to track players’ training and their preparations.
Q. How will you tackle the Indian team’s knack of choking at the vital point of matches?
Somewhere in our culture, I feel, we tend to over-react in our daily lives, too. When people are caught in traffic, they start driving zigzag instead of sticking to lane driving. Similarly, on the field it’s about staying calm and taking good decisions in the crucial moments.