Indian hockey team a strong contender to end campaign at top rank in Tokyo Olympics: Khandekar

Olympian and former Indian men’s hockey team forward Tushar Khandekar believes that the Indian men’s hockey team will be one of the top contenders to finish the campaign at the top in the upcoming Olympic Games to be held in Tokyo on July 23. “I think the way Indian men’s hockey team is playing right now, it is a strong contender to finish on top,” Tushar said on Monday during a podcast series ‘Hockey Te Charcha’ started by Hockey India ahead of the Olympic Games. is. India’s past experiences have taught important lessons and players understand very well what small mistakes can make in big tournaments like the Olympics. We’ve learned from every Olympic Games that, while we didn’t qualify in 2008, we finished 12th at the London Olympics and 8th at the Rio Olympics. We learned from our mistakes in the 2012 Olympics as well.

The Olympian said, “I am sure the players who were part of the Rio Olympics will caution the team about the mistakes they need to avoid making in Tokyo.” I think the current team has raised the standard of Indian hockey and the players are very confident about the fact that they can do well against the top teams in the world.

Tushar, who was the assistant coach of the Indian men’s hockey team from 2014 to 2016, said, “We definitely need good planning to build a good team and the way Hockey India is planned and implemented systematically, I am very happy with that. Hockey India has brought a lot of change in the last 10-12 years and has emphasized on a very scientific approach to train the players.