Harmanpreet is the Dhoni of Indian hockey: Dhanraj Pillay
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The success of the Indian team in winning the gold medal in the Asian Games reminded legendary forward Dhanraj Pillay of the 1998 victory and he praised captain Harmanpreet Singh, calling him the Mahendra Singh Dhoni of Indian hockey.
India defeated defending champion Japan by 5 points in the final in Hangzhou. Won gold medal in Asian Games by defeating 1 and also qualified for Paris Olympics. Dhanraj, who was the captain of the Indian team that won gold in the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games, said in an interview, “I am happy that we completely dominated and played better than them in all four quarters. 5 in the final. It is not easy to win by 1. Last time this Japan team had defeated us.
This 55-year-old stalwart, who has played four Olympics, four World Cups, four Asian Games and four Champions Trophies, praised Harmanpreet, who scored the maximum 13 goals in the Hangzhou Games, saying, “To a large extent, the credit goes to Harmanpreet’s captaincy.” . He is the Mahendra Singh Dhoni of Indian hockey. Does his work and keeps guiding from behind. Emotions do not overpower him and he remains calm even under pressure.
He said, “Senior players like Sreejesh (PR), Manpreet (Singh), Lalit (Upadhyay), Rohidas (Amit) created a very good coordination in this team.” I remembered 1998 while watching the final. This victory will be written in history. The boys played together and scored so many goals.
Under the captaincy of Dhanraj, South Korea lost 4 in the penalty shootout in the final of the 1998 Asian Games. Was defeated by 2. After Korea took the lead, India equalized on Dhanraj’s goal in the stipulated time.
He said, “I had such a strong team in 1998. There were experienced goalkeepers like Ashish Balal and AB Subbaiya.There were Lazarus Barla, Dilip Tirkey in fullback, Sandeep Somesh, Balbir Singh Saini, Mohammad Riaz in defence, while in the forward line there were players like Mukesh Kumar, myself, Sameer Dad, Baljeet Dhillon.
He said, “When the Indian team stood on the podium yesterday wearing a gold medal, I went back 25 years. After winning the medal, I was crying holding Subaiya and Balal.
Dhanraj said, “It has been 19 years since I left hockey but I have not stopped following hockey.” I have roamed around the grounds of many stadiums holding the Tricolor in my hand. When the team sings the national anthem while looking at the tricolor, there is a different atmosphere. Only a player can understand what goes on in the player’s mind at that time.
Dhanraj, who has gone through many Olympic qualifiers, said that he was praying that the Indian team gets the ticket to Paris from Hangzhou itself. He said, “Qualifying for the Olympics through Asiad is a great relief. The pressure of qualifying is so much that we are unable to focus on preparations. I was remembering the old Olympic qualifiers and was praying that we would qualify from Hangzhou itself.
Advising the team to prepare twice as much for the Olympics, this veteran said, “I would say that you will have to prepare twice as much for the Olympics as you have done till now.” There we have to play against world champion teams, teams like Australia, Netherlands, Germany.
He said, “Apart from this, there will also be pressure to change the color of the medal.” Last time there was bronze, now there will be pressure to win silver or gold. Ignore what is happening outside and just focus on the game. It is very important to stay safe from injuries.
Disclaimer: IndiaTheNews has not edited this news. This news has been published from PTI-language feed.
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