As India take on Belgium in the quarterfinals of the Junior Hockey World Cup in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday, defender Yashdeep Siwach credited coach Graham Reid for inspiring the team to do well in the competition.
After helping India win bronze at the Tokyo Olympics, he was entrusted with the role of guiding the junior team in the World Cup and despite their loss in the first game, Reid has seen the team go through into the quarters with ease.
"Having helped the Indian team win bronze at the Tokyo Olympics, he keeps sharing his experiences with us as how he came back after India lost a match. He inspires a lot and we get a lot of confidence from the guidance that we get from him," Siwach said during a virtual press conference on Tuesday.
As far as the match is concerned, both Siwach and Sanjay sounded quite confident of winning the match with ease.
Sanjay, who have so far scored eight goals in three matches, said, "After the first match we analysed the game and saw what were our roles and what mistakes we made. Then in the next two matches we worked on our mistakes and improved ourselves. We are performing well now and we are confident of easily winning the quarters."
Asked what the team mentality was ahead of the big game, Siwach calmly said, "There are mixed emotions among the players but we are mentally focussed on the quarterfinals. There's no pressure and we are ready for the match."
Speaking about how the team has prepared for the match, he further added, "The defenders, forwards and midfielders had separate meetings so that we have clear understanding about the combinations. We watched old videos of opponents and spoke about how we can better ourselves."
Siwach also credited the senior players, who have been coming to the stadium and watching them play everyday, for helping the juniors do well in the tournament. Other juniors in the team have also spoken about how helpful the seniors have been. And if they do win the game on Wednesday, it would be quite a delight for the onlooking Manpreet Singh & Co as well.
