Defence structure needs to be strengthened: Birendra Lakra

We have to improve our ball possession: Deepika

21 June 2015, New Delhi: After displaying a brilliant performance in the first match in the ongoing  Fintro Hockey World League Semi-Final 2015, both India Men and Women teams have received positive outcomes, which have enhanced the confidence of the teams. Defenders of both the team showed spectacular hockey skills as well as helped their teams to concede few goals and penalty corners. The experience of the first match will help the players to perform better in their second match of the tournament.

Speaking after the first match, Men Team’s defender Birendra Lakra stated, “It’s a good start for our team, winning the first match, but we need to work on our defence structure and it has to be improved. We kept the ball possession in our side and dominated the match in the last three quarters but we conceded two goals, which is unfortunate for our team. As the tournament will be tougher by each match and we have to fill up gaps in our defence chain and strengthen the defence structure. Our new strategy is working in our favour, now we have to take it a notch higher in terms of defence.”

Speaking post match, Women Team Vice-Captain Deepika said, “The first match was a close-fought clash and we came close to score goals in few occasions. We have learnt few things from the match and we will use the experience in next matches. The upcoming matches, we have to raise our level and be in better shape to face the challenges. We need to work on our ball possession as we failed to keep the ball in our side in the last match. We are satisfied with our performance and we will come back strongly in the next match.”

 India Men Team will face Poland at 07:30 pm IST in their second match of the tournament on 23 June 2015 while the Women Team will take on New Zealand on the same day at 05.30 pm IST. The matches will be telecasted LIVE on Star Sports.