Indian males’s hockey workforce goalkeeper PR Sreejesh mentioned they weren’t bowled over by the announcement
Indian males’s hockey workforce goalkeeper PR Sreejesh mentioned they weren’t bowled over by the announcement
The indefinite postponement of the Hangzhou Asian Video games has come as an enormous disappointment for almost all of the nation’s athletes however the Indian hockey workforce gamers have taken the deferment positively, saying it would give them extra time to arrange for the continental showpiece.
The Hangzhou Asian Video games, which had been scheduled to happen from September 10 to 25, had been on Might 6 postponed indefinitely amid a current surge in COVID-19 instances in China.
The brand new dates of the occasion will likely be introduced in close to future.
Reacting to the event, veteran Indian males’s hockey workforce goalkeeper PR Sreejesh mentioned they weren’t bowled over by the announcement.
“Sure, it is a disappointment however someplace down the road we had been anticipating it contemplating the state of affairs in China,” he instructed PTI.
“However we wish to take a look at it (postponement) from a optimistic standpoint as a result of the postponement means we are going to get extra time to arrange for the Asian Video games.” The lanky custodian hopes the postponement will deliver good luck for them, the best way it did throughout the Tokyo Video games, the place India gained a historic Olympic bronze medal after 41 years.
“We have already got the expertise of taking part in in a postponed Video games (Tokyo Olympics), so we all know what it takes to stay in form.
“The optimistic half is that there are many tournaments lined up for us just like the Asia Cup, Professional League matches, Commonwealth Video games, and World Cup subsequent yr. The dates of the postponed Asian Video games are but to be introduced, so we are going to get sufficient time to arrange our greatest for the Asian Video games,” Sreejesh mentioned.
A senior girls’s workforce participant, who didn’t want to be named, mentioned the postponement has each optimistic and damaging penalties.
“It’s actually unhappy that the Asian Video games are postponed. After the Tokyo Olympics success and a few superb performances within the Professional League matches, we’re decided to qualify for the Paris Video games by means of the Asian Video games,” mentioned the participant, who was a member of the Tokyo squad.
“We now have been rising from energy to energy below Janekke Schopman and the workforce appeared in a very good rhythm. Now there’s uncertainty about when the Video games will occur however we are going to proceed to place within the exhausting yards in our coaching. Similar to in Tokyo, it is vital for us to not lose focus,” the participant added.
The Asian Video games postponement additionally opened up the doorways for members of each the senior males’s and girls’s groups to take part within the Birmingham Commonwealth Video games, the place India had earlier determined to ship its reserve hockey sides as a result of quick turnaround between the 2 occasions.
A Hockey India official mentioned now that the Asian Video games had been postponed, the primary workforce gamers could be thought-about for the Birmingham CWG because the squads are but to be introduced.
“We nonetheless do not know what is going to occur as a result of the postponement got here as a shock to us. Earlier, we determined to ship separate groups for CWG and Asiad due to simply 32 days turnaround between the 2 occasions and we wished our most important workforce to peak in Asian Video games, which is a qualifier for Paris Olympics,” the official instructed PTI.
“However now that the Asian Video games are postponed we are able to embody gamers from the senior groups in CWG. It’s too early to say something as a result of we might want to take a look at the contemporary dates of the Asian Video games after which alter our calendar accordingly.”
