'Onus On The Coach'

The 25th Champions Trophy has created another important place in the dictionary of world hockey.

Being a premier tournament for all hockey playing nations, it is expected to witness graceful  skills, exhibition of fine goal-keeping, strong mid-field play and most importantly, the adaptation of playing six games byall the players in nine days -- testing the capacities of endurance and speed.

Olympic champions Netherlands and World Cup champions Germany will be equipped withthe European style, and the two giants from Asia -- Pakistan and India -- will beenthralling the crowd with stick work, and the most fancied side, Australia, are expected toplay fast and open hockey.

Argentina, the sixth team in the fray, will try to match their opponents inthe event which will be an hockey feast for the year 2003 at the famous Wagener Stadium in Amstelveen.

The Indian team, coached by Rajinder Singh, with two resounding victories at Sydney and Hamburg, has raisedexpectations that they can again make it to the podium this time after finishing third in 1982in the same country where Rajinder Singh was a part of the team.

The Indian Hockey Federation has sent the team well in time to acclimatise to the breezy climate in Holland aftera preparatory camp in Lucknow under hot and humid conditions.

But now the onus lies on Rajinder Singh, who should first select the best 16 from the squad of 18 and there should notbe any compromise on this.

All the present players have been together for the last five months and this has given the team an advantage over theother sides. Added to this, the two victories have made the players to believe in themselves.

If the players focus and perform consistently in all the matches, no side can matchthis confident-looking Indian team.

The team has many strong points and can be said to be one of the best thathas represented the country in recent years. Goalkeeper Devesh Chauhan, after the Sydney Olympics, hasperformed consistently both in the Asian Games and also at the last Champions Trophy inCologne. He has shown great confidence so far and stand-in custodian Kamaldeep Singh canperform equally well.

In deep defence, the prolific performer will be Dilip Tirkey who has gained confidence from his showings in thematches he has played so far for the country. Kanwalpreet Singh, the tall defender, has reduced his errors. These twoplayers will be defending the 25-yard line with aplomb.

Unlike in the past, the current Indian team is flooded with many outstanding mid-fielders that if they continue tocombine well in the matches, India can go from strength to strength.

Players like Vikram Pillay, Viren Rasquinha and Ignace Tirkey have good ball control, quick interception whichwill be an advantage to our forward line.

Veteran Baljit Singh will be supporting the mid-field with his tactical display. The performances of themid-fielders at the Busan Asian Games and also at the last Champions Trophy has madeit look formidable. Hopefully, they will continue to perform at the same level.

Skipper Dhanraj Pillay, who is playing a new role as a withdrawn forward, will be a marked man by any team. I stillfeel he is the back bone of the Indian forward line. Baljit Dhillon, another highly skillful forward, can trouble anydefence on his day. The other young forwards like Gagan Ajit Singh, Deepak Thakur andPrabhjot Singh will support Pillay and Dhillon.

With almost the entire team equipped with more efficiency, it is to be seen how well the consistency rate builds up during the Champions Trophy. This will be very vital for the Indian team.

The most important player, Jugraj Singh, who is now a specialist in penaltycorner conversions, will form the nucleus of this team.

The team won two tournaments in a short period, but I feel there are still some grey areas which other teams would liketo exploit.

The biggest weakness will be the unwanted tackling by Kanwalpreet and Jugraj which has costus important matches in the past. Even the long passes played by the Europeans gounnoticed by the deep defence which has failed to do the close man-to-man marking in this situation.

Though the mid-fielders are very strong in joining the attack, they succumb to pressure by not playing from their zone, specially Vikram Pillay and Rasquinha. Bimal Lakra's lack of communication while defending willalso have to be taken care of.

In the forward line, Gagan Ajit, Thakur and Prabhjot should not think of scoring through fancy reversehits as this may cost the Indians dearly.

The Indian team, with more strength and self confidence, can always upset the Netherlands on the opening dayprovided they don't commit unforced errors and don't invite yellow cards.

The hosts, on the other hand, will be playing with the support of a holiday crowd and are likely to
expect the Indians to commit mistakes. Their strong point will be long hit passes and thepenalty corners.

The players to look out for in the Indian team will be Jugraj, Dhanraj and Gagan Ajit.

PTI