Indian men’s chief hockey coach Joaquim Carvalho has expressed satisfaction as the national campers went through another important phase in the run-up to the Olympic qualifiers in Chile in March.

The month-long camp, which concluded on Wednesday, will be the last such long camp before the qualifiers. In about two weeks’ time, the Premier Hockey League will begin in Chandigarh after which there will be a shorter camp from January 7 at the SAI Southern Centre.

“The camp went very well and the boys did very well when it came to physical fitness and specifics like attacking, defending and penalty corners. There was no lack of concentration or effort. In fact, the players showed a lot of commitment,” said a pleased Carvalho.

“There has been a lot of change from day one of this camp to now. We are on the right track and each player has to fight for his place in the team. The players are aware of their roles.

“Of course, there is no end to learning and it is an ongoing process,” he added.

Carvalho was particularly happy with the performance of the juniors. “The fruitful part was the induction of juniors and that came off well. Players like Diwakar Ram, Sanawar Ali, Amarjeet Ekka and others have performed beyond expectations,” he felt.

“The camp had all the core group and backup group players but all worked hard. That kept the seniors on their toes.” Stressing the usefulness of long camps, Carvalho said: “Such a long camp was needed. In long camps, the players will develop closeness and the players will help each other. Here, the seniors are helping the juniors and teaching them.”

The Olympian said he would stress on penalty corners at the PHL venue.

“Diwakar Ram and VR Raghunath will be training under me, MP Singh and Ramesh Parameshwaran and the rest of the penalty corner group at the venue of the PHL.

I will request all coaches of PHL teams to spare these boys for atleast an hour a day,” he said.

“The reason I want them to train is that the rhythm should not be lost. Once there is a break, it is difficult to come back.

“The use of soccer concepts from Elvis Goes here will be useful in building attacks, counter attacks, defence and to pressurise the opposition. And the last 10 minutes of play is also very crucial. We are concentrating on that too,” he stated.