Pakistan hockey legend Hassan Sardar is mighty impressed with India’s performance at the Paris Olympics, saying the Harmanpreet Singh-led side has the firepower and potential to win the gold medal at the ongoing Games after a hiatus of 44 years.
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India will play Germany in the semifinal of the men’s hockey on Tuesday in Paris after outplaying Britain in the shoot-out on Sunday.
“When Pakistan is not playing cricket or hockey, I always support India. It’s a much better side and one of the best Indian teams I have seen. They have improved a lot and they are giving hard times to the Europeans.
“They (India) can win and they should win this Olympics,” the ace centre forward, who was instrumental in leading Pakistan to a gold medal at the 1984 LA Olympics, told PTI Bhasha.
“I am quite impressed with the way they have played against Australia. The Indian team is good. They should play as if they have gone there to win only. At this level it’s all about mental preparation,” he added.
Playing with 10 men for close to 40 minutes after Amit Rohidas was shown a red card for unintentionally hitting rival forward Will Calnan on his face on Sunday, India defended stoutly to hold Britain 1-1 in regulation time and force a shoot-out, where it emerged 4-2 winner.
And Sardar said mental strength and unity of this Indian team is what that differentiates it from others.
“We had beaten Australia in the semifinals on our way to win gold in the 1984 LA Olympics. We talked in the team meeting and had the belief that we can beat Australia and we did that. Mentally Indians have to be very strong and keep their morale high.” he said.
“It is always difficult to play with 10 players and India did extremely well. Especially, the captain who is in top form. Their morale would be high after that match and they just have to play their natural game.”
The 66-year-old veteran scored a hat-trick in Pakistan’s 7-1 win over India in the 1982 Asian Games final in New Delhi.
“When we won the Asian gold against India, we only focused on taking the lead and doubling it. Both teams played well but we were lucky that we could score so many goals. Mental strength is the most important aspect in crucial matches.”
He advised India not to give Germans space for counter-attacks.
“The Germans are a tough team. They are good on comebacks and are physically very strong. You can beat them with short passes, don’t allow them to counter-attack,” Sardar said.
” Focus should be on scoring more and more goals from penalty corners. If things are not going your way, just relax a bit and play like a unit. You don’t get time to regroup so quickly, adapt and move forward.”
He also wished good luck to goalkeeper PR Sreejesh, who will retire from international hockey after Paris Olympics.
“To Sreejesh, I will say keep it up. This is your last tournament and you can make it memorable. This is the best chance to bid adieu with a gold. Play like a winner as you have been playing. Australia and Belgium are already out and you won’t get a chance like this.”
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