Men's Hockey preview: Pressure on India to make a strong start

Hockey preview: Men will be up against eighth-ranked New Zealand, followed by women's clash with the Netherlands.

TOKYO: Eight-time champions India open their Tokyo Olympic Games men's hockey campaign against New Zealand at Oi Hockey Stadium here on Saturday.

On paper, it should be an easy assignment for Graham Reid's India. India are ranked fourth in the world, New Zealand are eighth. India have a clear advantage in head-to-head too — they have won 21 of the 41 encounters, the Black Sticks have won 15, and five have ended in draws.

But when it comes to opening matches in the Olympics, things have rarely gone by the script for India as they are prone to struggle against lower-ranked teams.

"The Indian teams usually take time to settle down and therefore the boys have to be very careful as they have a crucial match against Australia coming up next," said Joaquim Carvalho, who represented India in the 1984 Olympics.

India are in Pool A with Australia (No 1), Argentina (7th), New Zealand (8th), Spain (9th) and hosts Japan (15th). Getting full points against all four lower-ranked teams will be vital if India are to get a good draw in the quarterfinals.

Reid's squad is a mixture of young and experienced players and has performed well in the last five years after it finished a dismal eighth in the Rio Olympic Games.

"New Zealand is a very good team. I have a lot of respect for the way they play, for their mentality. They are very tough and (my knowledge) that comes from having played against them and when I was associated with Australia, we had some good tussles with them, we have played a lot and so I know them well. I know how dangerous they can be. So, we will certainly be making sure that we are on our best game against them," said Reid in pre-match comments provided by Hockey India.

Reid has a squad at his disposal that can be a handful for the top teams on their day.

In skipper Manpreet Singh, goalkeeper PR Sreejesh defender Birender Lakra and forward Mandeep Singh they have a strong leadership core that can keep the emotions in check and guide the Olympics first-timers, of which they have 10 in the squad here.

Women set for tough Dutch test in opener

For the women's team, it is a second successive Olympics, and a tough opener awaits in world no.1 Netherlands in their Group A fixture.

After appearing in the Olympics for the first time in 36 years at the Rio Games, the Indian women's team has only grown from strength to strength, winning the 2016 Asian Champions Trophy, 2017 Asia Cup, the silver medal at the 2018 Asian Games and reaching the qarterfinals of the 2018 Women's World Cup for the first time in history.

After Netherlands, the India women will take on Germany (July 26), Great Britain (July 28), Ireland (July 30) and South Africa (July 31) in the group stages.

Indian women's hockey team chief coach Sjoerd Marijne said the confidence among the group is high but didn't want to look too far ahead in the competition. Agencies

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