'Team coordination led to Asia Cup victory'

Chandigarh, Sept 11 (UNI) Indian forward Rajpal Singh today said that the impressing win of the Indian hockey team in the Asia Cup in Chennai was the result of team spirit, proper coordination among coaches, trainers, players and the management.

Rajpal, who displayed remarkable improvement in his individual performance in Chennai, said here, after returning home as victors, that early releasing and receiving the ball made a lot of difference. "Coach Joaquim Carvalho had issued instructions that the ball should be timely released and timely received. The forwards had earlier tendency to hang on to the ball for longer period and they were either used to be dispossessed or committed foul," he said.

Ebullient Rajpal said, "we played step-by-step. We never thought of relaxing slightly even if we were playing against a weak opponent. We maintained this tempo throughout the tournament.

Consequently we maintained our rhythm." Replying to a question, he said, "We have achieved the first stage, if we maintain the same rhythm, we will certainly win the coming Olympic Qualifying tournament to be held in Auckland for the Beijing Olympics 2008." Asked whether the Indian management was satisfied with the penalty corner conversion rate, Rajpal said, "As long as we score more field goals, penalty corner issue can be relegated to second position." "If India host the Champions Trophy, it will provide us a platform to meet the top teams," said Rajpal.

After poor performance in international competitions, Indian position has improved considerably. India got bronze at Azlan Shah (May, 2007) and Champions Challenge in Belgium (July) and now gold in Asia Cup in Chennai.

Chandigarh Hockey Association president and vice-president of the Indian Hockey Federation Chander Sekhar exclaimed at the performance of the Indian team. "The way (margin of victory) the Indian team won at Chennai is marvelous. It reminds of golden age of Indian hockey." UNI