Hockey aces eye Olympics- Sandeep, Sardara confident of making most of Olympic chance

Deepankar Sharda

Riding high on recent success, ace drag-flicker Sandeep Singh and half-back Sardara Singh are optimistic of making it big in the London Olympics. Sandeep bagged the ‘best player’ award in the recently held Champions Challenge-1, held in Johannesburg while Sardara had earlier made it to the FIH World XI squad.

Both are presently attending the National coaching camp in Bangalore for the upcoming Olympic qualifiers and feel that the team has lot of potential to win the top honours.

“The recently held tournament in Johannesburg has proved to be a boost for the team and also for the players, as we got time to overcome the shortcomings we faced there,” said Sandeep.

“I am very happy with my performance there and need to work more on playing attacking game,” he added. “I am also working on my flick as my aim is to strike the boards every time.”

The backbone of the team, Sardara feels that the team will give the best. However he refused to comment on any controversial issues.

“The team is on the right-track. All we need is to work hard on our deficiencies, which we are doing in the ongoing camp,” he said. “The players are not looking at any controversies and only focusing on the game.”

On the issue of grass root level hockey in Haryana, the players feel that to promote the sport among budding players, the Government should announce financial awards or aid. “We applaud the State Government for providing jobs and feel that additional financial grants should be given to top-level players, like in other states,” said the duo.