Terry Walsh: Door not shut for Sandeep, but he ought to work hard for comeback

Indian men’s hockey team’s silver-winning performance at the 2014
Glasgow Commonwealth Games has reignited hopes about the sport taking
the small, significant strides towards climbing up the performance
ladder. The national team raised their game by a several notches in
Glasgow after settling for a 9th place finish at the 2014 World Cup in
The Hague.

More than India winning the silver, what was of crucial interest was
the manner in which the team played after a ‘not-so-happening start
‘to their campaign against Wales. The team really hit the straps in
the subsequent matches, beating Scotland 6-2, South Africa 5-2, losing
to Australia 2-4 in a well contested game before upsetting higher
ranked New Zealand 3-2 in the semifinals before Australia packed too
many guns for them.

Quite clearly, the team under coach Terry Walsh has shown significant
improvement and now exudes promise of taking on any side on the pitch.
“The boys have put in the hard yards, and as far as our first game
against Wales is concerned it was not as if the team did not play
well, just that we did not settle down in the first half but overcome
that in the second half. We have a lot of hard work ahead of us, but
we are beginning to jell as a unit going into the upcoming Asian
Games,” says Terry Walsh in an exclusive interview.

The celebrated Aussie coach believes the team is looking good to win
the Asian Games and book a direct ticket to the 2016 Rio Olympics. “No
team can be taken for granted be it Korea, Malaysia or Pakistan. We
have to be at our best to beat them and win the Asian Games to book
our Rio Olympics ticket. The kind of progress the team have made in
recent times definitely makes feel optimistic about Asiad-winning
chances,” he observes.

India have featured in the Hockey World League, World Cup,
Commonwealth Games, with the upcoming Asian Games and the Champions
Trophy lined up later this year – effectively meaning the team have
played five tournaments in a year. Walsh feels the quality and not the
quantity matters more. Look, we are looking to play 45 international
games a year – it will not be possible to achieve that this year – you
got to remember that playing more tournaments does not make you a
world-beater – every tourney has to be adequately spaced out. The gap
between the World Cup and the Commonwealth Games was very less like
for the Asian Games. We are going to focus on playing quality-stressed
matches,” he quips.

The passing, trapping and penalty conversions have shown distinct
improvement in the Commonwealth Games, something Walsh acknowledges.
“I agree we have improved in these areas, but we need to sustain it
and only then we can beat top teams regularly,” he adds.

No talk with Walsh can miss a mention of putting in place a systematic
hockey programme at the grassroots level. “I really keen to see how
this grassroot level programme shapes up. This is so key towards
lifting hockey in a big way. Once India has players from all corners
of the country vying for national berths, which of course means
professionally-run hockey academies in each state, hockey will be in
great health,” he explains.

Drag-flicker Sandeep Singh is currently out of the 33 probables who
will be training for the upcoming Incheon Asian Games. Is the India
door firmly shut on him? “No door is closed on any player. For now, he
is not part of the 33 probables – he has to work hard at the domestic
tournaments and the 2015 Hockey India League to merit a place in the
national side. Sandeep is a seasoned campaigner and I know being part
of the side for so long, he will find their comeback route harder than
ever before. If he can show that he deserves a place in the national
team, we will have no qualms in picking him,” he says
matter-of-factly.