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'Our consistency under pressure will be tested to the maximum at Paris.'
India ended a long 41-year wait for an Olympic medal in hockey at the Tokyo Games three years ago when the men's team won the bronze medal.
At the Paris Olympics expectations are even higher, with the fans wanting the Indian hockey team to return home with the elusive gold medal. It has been 44 years since India won the hockey gold at the Olympic Games, having last triumphed at the Moscow Games in 1980.
India won the gold medal at the Asian Games last year and also emerged winners in the Asian Champions Trophy.
The team, led by Harmanpreet Singh, boasts of several match-winners in Hardik Singh, P R Sreejesh, Lalit Upadhyay and Gurjant Singh and will be looking to win their second successive Olympic medal.
India are in Pool B for the 12-team tournament. They are placed alongside defending champions Belgium, Australia, Argentina, New Zealand and Ireland and need to finish among the top four to qualify for the quarter-finals.
Former India captain Viren Rasquinha, who featured in 180 games for India between 2002 to 2008, believes India's players are capable of winning a medal at the Games if they play with the spirit they did in Tokyo.
"I am confident we will make the quarter-finals and then from there every match will be very tough and tension-filled, including the quarters and semi-finals to make it to the medal stage," Rasquinha, CEO of Olympic Gold Quest, tells Rediff.com's Harish Kotian in an exclusive interview.
India won the bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics. Do you believe India can win another medal at the Paris Olympics?
I definitely think the Indian team is capable of winning a medal in men's hockey at Paris. But there is also no doubt in my mind that the team will face many challenging situations.
It is about how you overcome adversity that will determine the ultimate result. For example, at Tokyo, we had a damaging 1-7 loss to Australia in our second league match, but we came back brilliantly to win our next three matches after that setback.
There are so many good teams in men's hockey at Paris -- Australia, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Great Britain, Spain, Argentina.
I am confident we will make the quarter-finals and then from there every match will be very tough and tension-filled, including the quarters and semi-finals to make it to the medal stage.
Our consistency under pressure will be tested to the maximum at Paris.
India are placed in a tough group with Belgium, Australia, Argentina, New Zealand and Ireland. Do you see them finishing fourth or higher? Which will be the key games?
Yes, there is not a single easy match in this pool. But, to be honest, both pools are very tough. In fact, I would say that the first three matches are the most important as we play New Zealand, Argentina and Ireland.
Ideally, we should seal our top four finish in the pool and thereby a quarter-finals berth in these first three matches itself.
We really cannot afford to lose any points, as Belgium and Australia are the two toughest teams in the tournament and India's recent record against both teams in major competitions is not very encouraging.
If we can win our first three matches, we can play much more freely against Belgium and Australia.
Why have India struggled to score from open play in recent tournaments?
Do you see the experienced Lalit Upadhyay and Gurjant Singh along with youngsters Abhishek and Sukhjeet Singh, who are playing their first Olympics, break that trend and find a way to consistently score from open play in Paris?
In the last few tournaments, the team was travelling with a very big squad of about 27 to 33 team members as the selection process for the final Olympic squad was still on.
This resulted in many changes in the team for virtually every match and the forward line and midfield then lacked understanding and cohesion. But now that the final squad has been selected that should settle the nerves for the players.
I have been very impressed with Abhishek and Sukhjeet. Their skill and speed is impressive.
Lalit, Gurjant and Mandeep are very experienced, but all three have not been in good form of late in terms of goal-scoring. They have to step up and be sharp and confident right from the first whistle of the first match.
The burden of scoring field goals has to be shared by the entire forward line.
What will be Hardik Singh's role in midfield? He has a lot of experience and all the forward moves will depend on how he lines up the forward line...
Hardik has undoubtedly been one of the best midfielders in world hockey for a few years now. He is a complete midfielder. Solid running, great game sense and passing abilities; his tackling and positioning is sound and his long aerial balls can create havoc in the opposition D area. Besides, he is our injector in penalty corners as well.
We need Hardik to be fit and in form. He is someone who can control the midfield for India which is critical to controlling the game.
He can pop up and score goals as well at crucial times. But we must remember that everyone in the team needs to stand up and be counted. We cannot be over-reliant only on Hardik.
How important a role will penalty corner specialist and Captain Harmanpreet Singh play, especially against Australia and Belgium?
Getting goals from penalty corners is critical in every match, especially against teams like New Zealand, Argentina and Ireland who will crowd the defence.
Harmanpreet is one of the best drag flickers in world hockey. We need him to be firing on all cylinders.
If you remember, at Tokyo Harmanpreet scored six goals and Rupinder Pal Singh scored four. That is 10 goals in total from our two drag flickers. That is huge.
I am sure Amit Rohidas or Sanjay, as the second drag flicker, will also get their chances. The aim should be getting into double digits through penalty goals over the course of the tournament. Who gets the goals doesn't really matter even if we get them through indirect variations.
India named just one goalkeeper, P R Sreejesh, in the squad. Will that be a big disadvantage if Sreejesh gets injured during a game?
I don't think any team in world hockey today goes with two goalkeepers in a squad of 16 players. So the risk is always there that your goalkeeper can get injured and then an outfield player has to don the pads which is not the ideal situation. But injuries to goalkeepers happen very rarely.
If the goalkeeper cannot continue for the rest of the tournament we always have Krishan Pathak in the reserves; he is an excellent 'keeper himself. I feel it makes much more sense to have the extra outfield player to help with the rolling substitutions rather than a second 'keeper who will then mostly be sitting out the entire tournament and one potential outfield player slot gets wasted.
The pace of modern hockey is crazy and we have to ensure that we have fresh legs at all times with intelligent use of the rolling substitutions.
A word on Sreejesh who will be playing his last Olympic Games. How big a player has he been for the Indian team in a career spanning 18 years? You have also played with him.
When I was in the last stages of my India career Sreejesh was just coming in as a junior player. So yes! I knew him from back then itself. And, quite honestly, nothing back then told any of us that Sreejesh would go onto becoming the legend that he is.
He has been the wall of Indian hockey for nearly two decades now and his consistency, his quality and his leadership have been excellent.
He is a big lad, he understands angles very well and his communication on the ground is terrific. These are all crucial attributes for a top-class 'keeper.
There is zero chance of India winning an Olympic medal if Sreejesh is not in excellent form. The forwards will win us matches, but it will be the defence and Sreejesh who will win us the medal.