After 3-2 win in round-robin encounter, stand-in captain Uthappa says Men in Blue approached hockey game against arch-rivals just like any other tie
India’s Ramandeep Singh celebrates a goal with teammates vs Pakistan during the Asian Champions Trophy tie in Kuantan, Malaysia yesterday
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Kuantan (Malaysia): India-Pakistan rivalry no longer puts extra pressure on the players, said India forward SK Uthappa after a 3-2 win over Pakistan in a round-robin league fixture of the Asian Champions Trophy.
“An India-Pakistan hockey match still attracts a lot of excitement, but the pressure thing is gone nowadays,” Uthappa, who was designated as the Indian captain, said.
Uthappa asserted that his team plays every match with the same intensity. “We took India-Pakistan match just like another match. We handled the match against Pakistan just as a professional takes up any assignment,” Uthappa insisted.
“Of course there is intense media hype for any match featuring India and Pakistan, but the players remain unaffected by it all. The team goes into every game with a specific game-plan. Just like other teams, we today had a plan to play against Pakistan,” he added.
Rupinder Pal Singh and Sardar Singh had worn the captain’s arm-band in the previous two outings of the ongoing event. India had to work hard for the victory today despite taking an early lead through the maiden international goal from young striker Pradeep Mor in the 11th minute. India fell behind as Pakistan scored two goals in the space of nine minutes after half-time. But India eventually came back from behind to post a win.
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