India Men gears-up for 2nd Match against France of the Europe Tour

New Delhi, 04 August 2015: After winning the first match, the India Men Team is geared-up to register another win against France in their second match of the Europe Tour, to be played on 5th August 2015 at Wattignies Sports Centre. The Indian players dominated the first match and outplayed France in all quarters.

After playing an aggressive first match, the Indians will continue their attacking strategy and look for early goals to keep pressure on France. The forward line, led by experienced SV Sunil, displayed a brilliant performance as they pushed the French defenders through-out the match. Ramandeep Singh, Akashdeep Singh and Mandeep Singh continuously attacked on the opponent's half and played most of the match in the French half.

They were well-supported by midfielders, led by captain Sardar Singh, who covered almost all parts of the field and kept the opponent players busy in the entire match. Chinglensana Singh, who scored the first goal in the first match, SK Uthappa, Danish Mujtaba, Devindar Walmiki and young player Satbir Singh will continue with the strategy of controlling the midfield in the second match also. With the quick passes and surprise attacks, France will have to prepare better strategies to tackle the Indian midfielders.

India successfully held its goal-post with its strong defensive line, which includes Birendra Lakra, VR Raghunath, Kothajit Singh, Gurjinder Singh and Rupinder Pal Singh. The French attackers found it difficult to materialise the opportunities into goals. However, they managed to earn few penalty corners but all were thwarted by world-class goalkeeper PR Sreejesh.

Speaking on the second match against France, Roelant Oltmans, Director High Performance and Indian Men Chief Coach stated, “The first match was very good and we played as per our strategies. The players displayed a good performance and controlled the match perfectly. We have tried some new strategies and team combinations, which yielded us positive results. Young players also successfully implemented the strategies on the field and helped the team to maintain the ball possession. We will continue our attacking game-plan in the next match also and try some new things. We are not taking France lightly at all and we will play with full force tomorrow.”

Speaking after a practice session, Captain Sardar Singh said, “The first win was very important for our team and our players, who are motivated with the result. We played as per out Coach's game-plan and got good results. We are trying some new things and there are areas where we have perform better in the next match and will again play for the win. France may come out stronger this time with better strategies, but we are ready to face them.”

India will play their second and last match against France on 5th August 2015 at 18:00 IST at Wattignies Sports Centre.

Schedule (31 JULY - 14 AUGUST 2015)