Harendra Singh advocates yoga for players

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: If chief hockey coach Harendra Singh is to be believed, the national team, just back from a twin-tour to Australia and New Zealand, would improve drastically in all aspects of the game only if it practised modern yoga.

Speaking on his return home on Tuesday, Harendra observed, “firmly believe the players would gain a lot from modern yoga. These days you have to be strong mentally and have to react quickly too. I know yoga would teach them to take the shortcomings in their stride. In today’s hockey, a lot depends on how you counterattack and that can improve a lot from yoga.”

Elaborating his point, Harendra stressed, Hockey and football are very similar when it comes to the art of receiving the ball and distributing it.

Interception of the ball when it leaves the opponent is a very important aspect of modern hockey. You need to snatch the ball and launch a quick counter. Easy and simple it may sound but it is so very tough. A player has to provide a cover to his colleague and then use every space available on the turf.

The Indian team fared “reasonably well” in Australia even though it lost both the matches to the developmental side before winning the four-Test series in New Zealand 2-0. “The quality of hockey was exceptionally good and what I liked most was how the players adapted to the conditions and the quality of the opposition. Barring Dilip (Tirkey) and Arjun (Halappa) the rest were visiting Australia and New Zealand for the first time.”

Learning process

The tour as such was a learning process for the players but Harendra praised them for their approach. “The biggest gain for us was the communication level that the players attained among themselves on and off the field. When I wanted them to attack they would do in electric fashion. To win against New Zealand (World No. 7) was a huge motivation.”

On possible improvement, Harendra confessed, “I want the defence to be more patient when tackling. We need to improve a lot overall in this department. I was very pleased with the combination that the forwards and the linkmen showed. There was good progress on the penalty corner conversion front. It was 43 per cent and it was not bad. True we will need to concentrate on this department a lot. As a coach I learnt a lot and I can say for the players that they too enjoyed the tour.”

Next Assignment

The Indian team’s next assignment is the Azlan Shah tournament in Kuala Lumpur from April 6 to 12.

“I would ideally like a two-week camp for the team to prepare. We have to win the Azlan Shah. It will be the first step in our endeavour to figure in the top six of the world by December. Only then we can aspire to make it to the last four at the World Cup (in March next year).