Ex-captain and Olympic Gold Quest pillar Rasquinha reckons India can break their hockey medal jinx in Tokyo
India players celebrate a goal against Germany during their Europe tour earlier this year. Pic/Hockey India
India's hockey team goalkeeper PR Sreejesh’s performance will define our medal-winning prospects in Tokyo Olympics (July 23-August 8), reckoned former India hockey team skipper Viren Rasquinha. Sreejesh, 33, who led India in 2016 Rio Games is playing his third Olympics and is a lone goalkeeper in India’s 16-member team.
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Banking on Sreejesh
“Sreejesh saved India time and again and we are going to need Sreejesh to be at his absolute best. You cannot win a medal at tournaments like the Olympics without your goalkeeper being in top form. We need him to be consistent and to be communicating very well,” Rasquinha told mid-day during a virtual media interaction, when asked about this former captain’s role and importance in the team.
Viren Rasquinha
However, Rasquinha, who represented the country in 2004 Athens Olympics and was part of India’s 2001 Junior World Cup-winning team in Australia, said the team should not depend only on Sreejesh and captain Manpreet Singh’s performance.
“Don’t think Sreejesh will be thinking too much about not getting the captaincy. Manpreet is a great captain and they both are good friends. There should not be any dependency over just Sreejesh and Manpreet. Hockey is a team sport, every single team member’s role is important and everyone will need to contribute for the Indian team to win that medal,” remarked Rasquinha, who is currently helping athletes to pursue their dreams being a director and chief executive officer of Olympic Gold Quest.
The Indian hockey team has won 11 Olympics medals, including eight golds, but have been awaiting a medal since the 1980 Moscow Games. Rasquinha felt the Indian hockey team have the best chance to seal a medal in Tokyo. He said: “It’s a strong team. We have been really consistent over the last entire Olympics cycle where we beat all the top teams in the world at some point. That has never happened before. At the last Olympics no one in their right senses would have predicted that Argentina would win the gold medal. So, if Argentina can win men’s hockey gold, so can India.” However, what concerns Rasquinha is the team’s goal scoring ability.
‘We need more goals’
“The Indian forward line and drag flickers should be scoring more goals. We have struggled with goal scoring over the last two Olympics. Even in this Olympics Sreejesh is very strong in the goal, the defence looks stable, solid, experienced, but if there is a slight question mark on the team, it’s the ability of the forward line to bear that goal scoring burden,” Rasquinha said.
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