India set for South Africa test

Biswajyoti Brahma, TNN

NEW DELHI: Beware of a South African backlash. Coach Michael Nobbs must be telling this to his wards when India take on the African champions in a five-match hockey series in the Capital stating from Monday.

The series is important from Nobbs’ point of view as it would give him a chance to test his combinations ahead of next month’s Olympic qualifiers at the same venue.

However, he would be a little worried as well. When the two sides last met, India had played the spoilsport by denying South Africa a place in the Olympics – by beating them in the Champions Challenge semifinals in Johannesburg last month.

Nobbs would be aware that South Africa would be keen to make amends by winning the series and in the process deal a psychological blow to the hosts ahead of the qualifiers.

The series would also provide Nobbs with a chance to work on some problems that the team was facing. “We have been playing attacking hockey and it’s going to remain that way in this series. But when you play this way, you expose the defence a bit. We are working on fixing this problem,” the Australian told reporters.

The match will start at five in the evening at the National stadium and entry to the venue is free for spectators.