Coach Kaushik confident of Indian eves winning a Hockey medal

Doha, Dec 1 (UNI) Promising an improved performance, the Indian Women Hockey team coach MK Kaushik today exuded confidence that the 'girls will return home from this Asian Games with a medal'.

Though the women hockey tournament in the Asiad starts from tomorrow, India will play their first match against Chinese Taipei on December 3.

In the seven-nation tournament to be played on round-robin basis, the other teams are Korea, China, Japan, Malaysia and Hong Kong.

Kaushik was fully aware of his team's weak points and was candid enough to admit that China, Korea and Japan are going to be very tough rivals to deal with.

''I know that the field is very strong but my players are also ready for the big challenge and we are certain to get a medal this time,'' he said.

India had finished a lowly 11th in the 12-nation World Cup held in Madrid in September but Kaushik was unfazed by the poor show.

''Look we lost some matches there very narrowly, which we should have won. But now now I think players have worked on their mistakes which they committed in the World Cup and I hope that things will be different here,'' he said.

The coach claimed that India dominated most of the matches at Madrid but loosened the grip at crucial junctures to lose the games.

''We dominated several matches but on crucial moments we let go the advantage and that is what I hope will not happen here,'' he elaborated.

Kaushik said the players have been repeatedly watching the video of their World Cup matches to find out their grey areas and have been working on their weaknesses.

''We have a very balanced side and I believe that performance of the team will be very good this time, '' he said, adding, ''We have worked on our penalty corners and defence. I know that our penalty corner conversion is not very good.'' The coach underlined the need of defending the goal and the lead in the later stages of the game saying, ''Most of the time we allow the rivals to get away in the dying moments of the game. We tend to get a bit casual after dominating the proceedings and this habit has to be kicked out,'' he opined.

''We are working on set pieces inside the 16 yards. Most of the time rivals have taken advantage and we are looking to improve on this area,'' he said.

Kaushik admitted that there were lot of areas which needed improvement but asserted that the Indian team remained a strong medal contender.

''We still need a lot of improvement to be a force to reckon with at the World level. Our fitness level, professional level has to be increased. In fact we need a lot of improvement in all the areas of the game to be a dominant force at the World stage.'' UNI HSB PM PM1216