Krishan Bahadur Pathak, one of India’s goalkeepers at the Asian Champions Trophy in Chennai along with PR Sreejesh, feels the Poligras surface at the tournament offers a key advantage.
The Paris Olympics next year will have the same turf. The ACT is thus giving teams a chance to acclimatize to Poligras.
"It's a really good turf, thanks to the Tamil Nadu government for giving us the benefit of the turf beforehand because it will be used during the Olympics too,” Pathak said.
"Since it's a new turf, it feels kind of heavy. But, we will be getting used to it and gradually become more comfortable. It's all about how fast we get used to it.”
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Poligras Paris GT zero, as the variety is called, is described as a carbon zero hockey turf. It is made from 80 per cent bio-based material - sugarcane. One of its benefits is that it requires less water for maintenance.
The 26-year-old from Kapurthala, who reached the milestone of 100 international matches at the ACT, acknowledged that the tournament is ideal preparation for the Asian Games in Hangzhou.
"Whatever tournament I have played till date, all have been special for me. Every tournament's preparation is different, be it the Pro-League, or the ACT. Even preparations for the Asian Games would be different. So, this competition is important to us, as we would be able to build confidence from here,” Pathak said. "The teams that would be participating in Hangzhou are [more or less] the ones featuring in the ACT. There would be a couple of extra teams, probably Sri Lanka and Hong Kong.”
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Pathak, who made his senior debut in 2018, said he has learnt a lot in his years with the Indian team so far. "Especially about leadership, how to guide the side from the back and how to work with the defence.”
He added, "We regularly keep asking (the seniors). And even if we don't ask, we learn a lot by just looking at things and experiencing them. So, such things help us a lot in building our career," he added.
Pathak lost his mother at 12. He also took up hockey at the same age, as advised by his father.
He is taking it one dream at a time. In the context of the Olympics, that means first ensuring qualification for the event. A gold medal in Hangzhou would be the perfect way of doing it.
"Our first focus is to qualify for the (Paris) Olympics through the Asian Games. Only after we have secured it, we will think about playing at the grand stage," Pathak said.
