India to play with Pakistan tomorrow in FINTRO Hockey

Match of the Tournament - India to face Pakistan tomorrow in the FINTRO Hockey World League Semi-Final 2015 in Antwerp

• The key tomorrow will be the defence: Captain Sardar Singh

New Delhi, 25 June 2015: After winning two back-to-back matches, the India Men Hockey Team are looking forward to their clash against arch-rivals Pakistan in the ongoing FINTRO Hockey World League Semi-Final 2015 on 26th June.

The confident Indian team are upbeat post their recent performance where they posted convincing wins against France (3-2) and Poland (3-0). After playing a few practice matches and two league matches, Indian players have set their feet on the green astro-turf of Antwerp and successfully implemented their strategies against their opponents. With Chief Coach Paul van Ass' new team strategy of 10-on-10, the Indian players will aim to have an edge over Pakistan and look at continuing their good form tomorrow.

India and Pakistan had last met during the Champions Trophy in December 2014 at Bhubaneswar and India will be looking at settling scores against the opponents this time around. The Indian side missing out on the likes of VR Raghunath, SV Sunil and Kothajit Singh have not allowed the vital absence to deter their determination and rather have proved that they are a team who are ready for any challenge today. With Sardar leading from the front and in top form which he proved through his skilful play, Walmiki Brothers are a force to reckon with in the opponents D and Sreejesh getting stronger under the bar with each passing match, the Pakistan team will have an uphill task this time around to beat the mighty Indians.

Speaking after a practice session, Captain Sardar Singh said, “The key tomorrow will be our defence and I think the responsibility of defending starts from the forwards where the job will be to take the ball back and counter attack. This also clearly means, do not allow them easy access to our D and ensure that we keep them at bay. We have been working on the 10-on-10 strategy for the upcoming two matches and tomorrow will show us where exactly we stand in our strategies.”

Commenting on tomorrow's face-off against Pakistan, Chief Coach Paul van Ass said, “Pakistan is a very aggressive team and they have experienced players while ours is relatively a young team. But I don't think that is anywhere in our minds. The team's focus is on creating penalty corners and capitalising on them. Be aggressive in their D and within those few seconds score that goal".

India will face the Pakistan in their third match of the FINTRO Hockey World League Semi-Final 2015 at 19:30 IST on the 26th June 2015. The matches will be telecasted LIVE on Star Sports.

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