'Australia Tour is an important assignment'
Indian team to play in 9-a-side format event
Having passed his opening examination -- the Asian Champions Trophy -- with flying colours, Indian hockey coach Michael Nobbs felt the tour of Australia will be an important step towards Olympic qualification hopes.
“This tour is just another step in the ultimate aim of qualifying for the London Olympics,” said Nobbs, who propelled India to a gold-medal finish in his maiden assignment at the Asian Champions Trophy in Ordos, China. “The main priority is 11-a-side (matches). If you want to be the best, you have to play the best. If you noticed, Australia beat New Zealand 6-1 recently and they are back in form.”
The Indian contingent that left for Perth in the wee hours of Wednesday will be involved in a series of important matches. First they would lock horns with hosts and hockey powerhouse Australia (Oct 17) and then New Zealand (Oct 18) in a friendly each that would be played in a new nine-a-side format.
The Indians would then participate in the LANCO International Super Series nine-a-side tournament in Perth from Oct 20-23 with the other teams being Australia, New Zealand and arch-rivals Pakistan. The Indians would then return to the traditional 11-a-side format tournament involving Australia and Pakistan in Busselton and Bunbury.
“Fortunately, we have two or three of the best teams in the world there. The nine-a-side will be a lot of fun and we will have to see if it is the future of hockey. This (nine-a-side) is just great fun for the players and spectators as there are a lot of goals being scored. But it is not the most important thing right now, 11-a-side is. As I said earlier, we’ve got to get these young kids (play) up to 15-25 internationals before Olympic qualifiers. They’ve just got to get experience and that’s just another chance to do it,” said Nobbs.
In Ordos, Nobbs alternated between goalkeepers Bharat Chetri and PR Sreejesh for every match with each getting equal number of caps. When queried if a similar thing would be tried out in Australia considering Chetri is the captain, Nobbs said it was a possibility.
“Chetri is the captain; if he is not on the field then someone is going to take charge. I don’t know who that’s going to be at this stage but there’s going to be a leader on the field. Maybe Ignace (Tirkey) who is the vice-captain. I don’t know yet,” said Nobbs.
