Friday, January 24, 2014

Exclusive Interview: Injuries affected Jaypee PunjabWarriors in 2013 HIL, says striker SV Sunil


Burst of speed is his middle name. Indeed, SV Sunil has been synonymous with that having served the national team with distinction over the years.

The nippy Indian forward after dishing out a decent performance for the national team in the recently-held Hockey World League Final, will be looking to do his bit to ensure Jaypee Punjab Warriors turn over a new leaf after a ‘not-so-happening’ showing in the inaugural HIL last year despite being replete with a bevy of big names like Jamie Dwyer, Jaap Stockmaan, Rob Hammond in their ranks. “We did not have a great first season of HIL. We took our time to settle down and also had quite a few injury issues which affected our performance, especially in the early part of the tournament. We are working hard and coach Barry Dancer is guiding us to put our best foot forward. We hope to improve on our semifinal finish last year,” Sunil says in an exclusive interview to Hockey Passion.

So will revenge will be on the minds of the Warriors when they lock horns with Delhi Waveriders in the 2nd HIL opener on Sunday given the fact the Delhi outfit had shown them the semifinal exit door when they beat them 3-1 last year? “Well, the first game will be key for us not that our other games are not. Delhi Waveriders are a formidable side and it won’t be easy. We have a decent team and it will all boil down to performance on a given way. If we can play an attacking game and dominate them we stand a good chance of beating them, but if we allow them to settle down they will make things difficult for us,” quips the 24-year-old.

The Coorg lad, who scored four goals in the inaugural HIL, was recently seen playing in an withdrawn role in the Hockey World League Final, which smacks off a feeling that the striker is showing signs of taking up more responsibilities for the team. “The idea is to play as a team and not indulge in playing to the gallery. I was happy to assist our forwardline as well as play in any position for my team,” he says candidly.

At t
he recently-held Hockey World League Final, the national team showed remarkable pluck to hold world number one Germany to a 3-3 draw before going on to beating them 5-4 in the play-off round. But the 2-7 drubbing at the hands of Australia after holding a 2-0 lead must have hurt the team. Does India have any mental block playing against the Kookaburras? “Well, India controlled the game for most part of first half – leading 2-0 against Australia was superb – not many teams in recent times have done this. It’s not that they played extraordinary hockey in the second half to score four times to beat us hands down. We kept making blunders and they made us pay – it’s as simple as that,” he puts forth his views.

How does he assess India’s chances for the 2014 World Cup? “We have to work hard for the marquee event. More importantly, all our players must stay injury-free and if we play like the way we played against Germany in the HWL Final, we can surprise a lot of teams,” he signs off.








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