Indian men’s hockey team needs to improve on defensive structure, says Rupinderpal Singh

With a combined total of over 300 International caps between them, former India hockey players, defender and drag-flick specialist Rupinderpal Singh and goalkeeper Adrian D’Souza are a wealth of knowledge and experience and a huge source of inspiration for any upcoming player.

As they trained a set of players on either side of the artificial turf at the SDAT-Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium with their drills, it was clear that they have come for the week-long coaching camp with a clear purpose—to give the youngsters the true feel of international training. “We want them to have the right technique and groom players who show bright potential,” said Rupinder to Sportstar here on Monday.

The two former Internationals believe that the recent drubbing (0-5) at the hands of the Australian men’s team in the five-match Test series was not a true projection of how the Indian team can perform at the Paris Olympics. According to the 33-year-old penalty corner specialist, the Test series against Australia are preparations and nothing else, and if they could correct its penalty corner defence and penalty corner conversions, the team can perform well in Paris.

READ | Hockey India names 28-member core probable group for men’s camp ahead of Paris Olympics

“Test games are always taken as a sort of preparation before the bigger tournaments. I’m sure they have taken those games with that mentality only. I think it is a plus point that they have got five matches against Australia before the Pro League and the Olympics. And I think they just need to improve on defensive structure, especially defence in penalty corner and penalty corner conversions,” he said.

Forty-year-old Adrian concurred with Rupinder. “The basic things that matter to us have always been penalty corner attack and penalty corner defence. These are the aspects where we have been very lethal,” said the goalkeeper. Rupinder and Adrian expressed confidence that the Indian team would come back with a medal from the Paris Olympics.