Doha disappointment is history: India hockey coach Harendra Singh

By Sanjjeev K Samyal | Place: Guanghzou | Agency: DNA

As the Indian hockey team begins its Asian Games campaign on Monday, coach Harendra Singh assured that it has overcome the scars of Doha 2006.

“We have forgotten about what happened at Doha. It is history,” said Harendra, whose team takes on Hong Kong in the opening match.

India had finished fifth at the 2006 Games but Rajpal and Co are high on confidence after their fine showing at the Commonwealth Games where they beat Pakistan and England to reach the final.
Apart from the gold medal, the big incentive of winning the tournament here is an automatic berth in the Olympic Games.

Harendra, however, played down the talk of Olympic qualification. “There is no talk of the Olympics berth in our team. We are only focusing on winning the gold here. We are focusing on one game at a time.”

He said India’s big matches will be against Pakistan on November 20 and Japan the next day. “We are using the matches against Hong and Kong (today) and Bangladesh as preparatory games.”