Hours before the opening match against South Korea, new coach Paul van Ass says he is excited and ready to face the real test.
“It has been a nice three weeks spent with the team. Now, comes the real feeling as to how much prepared we are and where we have progressed. It is the time for the real test,” Paul van Ass told stick2hockey.com after the second and final practice session of the India team at the Sultan Azlan Shah stadium in Ipoh.
In the spotlight since he took over the reigns of the team, he however denies the media hype on the tournament being a more a test for him rather than the team.
“Pressure is created by people. I am not taking any pressure. I am here to do a job, that’s all.”
“The players are comfortable with me. Of course, i trigger them when required and it is necessary.”he added.
Talking about how much importance the tournament holds, he said,”The good thing is that India has already qualified for the Rio Olympics. Among the participating nations, four teams are ranked higher than us. Playing against the international teams, will tell us do we stand a chance or not and have we been able to fix the problem.”
On the strong teams in the tournament he picked out Australia, New Zealand, before pointing that India stood a chance as well.