New Indian Express: Comparison with stalwart motivates junior hockey skipper

By Ravi Iyer

CHENNAI: When you are a talented youngster coming up through the ranks, it is imperative that you maintain a balance and don’t let the hype and flashy lights get to your head. More so, if you are national junior team captain.

And Harjeet Singh is following this to a tee. Hailed as the successor to Sardar Singh, on whom he has modelled his game, Harjeet is not letting expectations temper his ambitions.

Such things (comparisons) are not in our hands, who says what about us. Maybe they feel there is something in us, hence they say so. But we don’t feel pressure because of such statements. In fact, we get motivation to do better. Good performances bring about such compliments, which increases confidence, and also gets more support for our sport.

So, there is no pressure, and each player knows what he has to do, what his role is, the midfielder, who will lead India at the junior World Cup from December 8-18 in Lucknow, told Express. Harjeet says preparations have gone well, and they will take it one match at a time. Most have been to Lucknow before, so we haven’t had problems adjusting. Training has gone well, and we’ve been working on what we think needs to be improved upon. Aim is to go as deep as possible, and we’ll take it one game at a time. We’ve been together for a while now, and team morale is high, the 20-year-old added. Senior coach Roelant Oltmans has been with the junior squad since the series Down Under, and will be part of the staff in Lucknow as well.

The Dutchman had said that European countries and Australia will be the biggest challenge for the hosts, but Harjeet knows his team’s capabilities. Junior teams of some of the best Olympic teams will be coming over, but I’m confident this group can beat any challenger if we play to potential.

We did well at the recent 4-nations in Valencia, where we beat Germany. Most of the big teams will be wary of us. India will open against Canada on October 8. The hosts won the tournament once, in 2001 in Hobart. They also have a silver (1997) and bronze (2005) from 11 previous editions.