Bengaluru: Indian men's hockey team captain Manpreet Singh said that they should not take Russia lightly as both the teams are all set to lock horns in FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifiers Odisha which are scheduled to take place at the Kalinga Hockey Stadium in Bhubaneshwar on November 1 and 2.
Ahead of the game, Manpreet said that the Indian team will be fully prepared as they can't take Russia lightly.
Exclusive interview with Indian Hockey skipper Manpreet Singh "Our priority is to win the Olympic qualifiers and we can't underestimate Russia because they are also coming to qualify for the Olympics. They will also give their best," Singh told ETV Bharat in an exclusive interview.
"After qualifying for the event, our aim will be to improve. We will play Pro Hockey League next year (2020), where will play against good teams and that will help us gain confidence and we can learn many things which will eventually help us prepare for Tokyo Olympics," Singh added.
It should be noted that the winners of the FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifiers Odisha will qualify for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.
The winners will be determined as follows:
- Teams will be ranked according to the number of points each has accumulated in both matches (for each match, 3 points are awarded to the winner, 1 point to each team in the event of a draw).
- However, if there is equality among the two teams, then the teams will be placed according to their respective goal difference. But if the equality still remains then a shoot-out competition will be played to get the winner.
Earlier, Hockey India announced the 18-man Men's team for the upcoming qualifiers. The squad will be lead by Manpreet Singh.
Indian Men's Hockey team: PR Sreejesh, Krishan Bahadur Pathak, Harmanpreet Singh, Birendra Lakra, Surender Kumar, Gurinder Singh, Rupinder Pal Singh, Amit Rohidas, Manpreet Singh (Captain), Nilakanta Sharma, Hardik Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, SV Sunil (Vice-Captain), Mandeep Singh, Akashdeep Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Simranjeet Singh.
