ID :
72006
Fri, 07/24/2009 - 16:00
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/72006
The shortlink copeid
INDIAN HOCKEY TEAM HEADS TO EUROPE TO LEARN SKILLS
P.VIJIAN
NEW DELHI, July 24 (Bernama) -- India's newly hired national hockey team's
Spanish coach vowed to shape up the Indian team before 2010 World Cup Hockey in
Delhi and his major challenge is a series of test matches in Europe.
After five weeks of intense training in Pune city, chief coach Jose Manuel
Brasa is taking the young Indian team for a four-nation European tour this
week, to hone their skills from the foreign stint.
"Now we (India) are in the 12th ranking in the world, we want to change. We
have to face the reality, India once won some gold medals but is now going to
Europe to learn," Brasa told the media at a ceremony where a new logo for the
national hockey team was launched in Delhi.
Brasa, a former Spanish national player himself, said the new Indian team
was talented but lacked some basics, especially in the defence, allowing
opponents to score goals in the last minutes of the game.
"The players are talented but lacked skills like passing and marking. We
need a modern approach and we want to peak for the world Cup," he added.
India will host the 12th edition of the men's hockey championship in Delhi
from March 7 to 20m, next year.
During the European tour India will play four test matches against hockey
giants like Belgium, England, Holland and Spain.
The team left Delhi for the tour last night without its number one
goalkeeper Baljit Singh, who had badly injured his right eye during a practice
match.
The new Indian logo shows 24 hockey sticks forming a wheel, resembling the
Ashoka Chakra, a symbol of the great Indian emperor Ashoka.
India won the world cup only once in 1975 in Kuala Lumpur.
-- BERNAMA