National hockey chief coach Michael Nobbs has a simple formula for success: “If you want to be the best, you have to play the best.”
Ahead of the men’s and women’s squads’ departure to Rotterdam for the FIH World League Round 3 (semi-finals) from June 13 to 23, Nobbs said that a “tough challenge” awaited the teams as they had to tackle the best but added that “we are ready for it”.
“It’s going to be tough right from the first match. All the teams will want to qualify but I am sure the boys will give their best shot. They have worked hard in the past few months including at the recent camp in Bengaluru. We have been concentrating more on defence and that’s the reason we toured Holland... the experience there will be handy in Rotterdam,” said Nobbs here on Tuesday.
India are in Pool B in the men’s competition alongside hosts Holland, New Zealand and Ireland while Pool A has Australia, Belgium, Spain and France.
In the women’s section, India have been clubbed along with Belgium, Germany and New Zealand in Pool B. China, Japan, Korea and Netherlands form Pool B.
Three teams each will qualify directly for next year’s World Cup from the two WLR 3 semi-finals. They will be joined by five continental champions and the host nation.
On the men’s team composition, Nobbs said: “It’s a blend of young and experience. Sandeep and Shivendra are back and they will provide the much-needed experience. Kotharjeet Singh, Mandeep Singh besides the classy Manpreet Singh, they all are keen to play their hearts out.”
The coach emphasised that the first three matches starting with Ireland would be important as it would decide the team’s position in the quarter-finals.
“We cannot take any of the teams lightly. Two of them are world champions. Even the first match against Ireland will be tough, they have more German players than Irish in their side.”
Meanwhile, men’s skipper Sardar Singh felt the team would have chances provided each one of them “play 70% of hockey in 70 minutes”.
“We need to play tough hockey, need to be aggressive. We will also have to concentrate, we shouldn’t give away easy balls,” said Sardar, who received cash prizes for winning the player of the tournament in the FIH World League Round 2 held here and the Asian Hockey Federation Player of the Year 2011 awards.
On the women’s part, team coach Neil Hawgood was realistic. “It’s going to be really tough because you will be playing top ranked teams in the world. We cannot expect dramatic results. If we manage to qualify it will be a bonus.”
Captain Ritu Rani, however, added: “We are confident of a good performance this time. We have the skills and the last few moths, we have worked a lot on our fitness.”