The Hindu : Sport : ‘This feat is better than Kazan win’

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‘This feat is better than Kazan win’

Sports Reporter

The coach underlines the need for improvement in several areas

— PHOTO: R.V. Moorthy

GOOD ACCOUNT: Indian women’s hockey team which finished runner-up in the Asia Cup, on arrival at the New Delhi airport on Monday.

NEW DELHI: The 14th-ranked Indian women’s hockey team has achieved two significant successes this year. First, the Champions Challenge II title win in Kazan in June and then the second-place finish in the recently concluded Asia Cup in Bangkok. For coach M.K. Kaushik, ending up as the runner-up in the Thai capital carries more significance than emerging as the champion in Russia.

“There were much better teams in the Asia Cup. China is No. 3 in the world, Japan (No. 6) had finished fifth in the previous World Cup and Korea is a good side. Apart from the second place finish, the big advantage is that we qualified for the World Cup next year,” Kaushik told The Hindu after the team’s arrival here from Bangkok on Monday.

Biggest relief

The biggest relief for Kaushik was that the team did not have to play the World Cup qualifier any more. “Playing the qualifier is more difficult than the World Cup itself as you compete with many teams who give their best to get through,” he said.

Kaushik said the World Cup qualification would give enough time for the team to prepare for the main event. “Plus, it is a motivational factor for the side, which will play in other important meets like the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games next year,” he said.

The coach, however, underlined several areas where the girls need to work on. “A lot of improvement is needed. Penalty corner defence and conversion, counterattacks, constant inter-changing of positions, variations and making the strikers more efficient are the areas where we need to improve. The players are required to jell better,” Kaushik said.

Kaur satisfied

Indian captain Surinder Kaur was satisfied that the players carried out their responsibilities well. However, she agreed with Kaushik. “We need to better our scoring ability. Improvement is also needed in a few other areas,” she said.

Recalling India’s miserable performance in the 2006 World Cup, Surinder hoped that the team would do much better next year. “Last time, our scoring was poor. This time, we are on the right track and should end up within the top five,” she said.

Hockey India officials, including President A.K. Mattoo, were present at the airport to receive the team.

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