NEW DELHI, 27 August 2003 — India’s hockey captain Dhanraj Pillay admitted yesterday his team needed the help of a psychologist to become mentally stronger after the poor showing at the Champions Trophy.
India, one of the pre-tournament favorites to win the elite six-nation event in the Netherlands, lost four of their six matches to finish just above Argentina and Germany’s second-string.
“I agree the team needs a psychologist,” Pillay said after returning from Amsterdam yesterday morning. “We have never had one for big tournaments. But we need a person who knows hockey. A general psychologist will not help. He must be with the team at all times.”
India showed its lack of mental toughness in the opening match of the Champions Trophy when it squandered a 3-0 lead to allow the Dutch to score four goals in the last seven minutes.
“That first game against the Dutch proved our downfall,” Pillay said. “We just did not keep our cool in the last seven minutes and paid dearly. If we had won that game, I think we would have been on a roll and definitely made the final.”
The only bright spot for the Indians was an exciting 7-4 win over arch-rivals Pakistan in the league, but Pillay’s men went down 4-3 when the teams met again two days later in the play-off for the bronze medal.
It was a repeat of last year’s Champions Trophy when Pakistan lost to India in the league but bounced back to win the play-off for third place. “Pakistan played very well all through the tournament and deserved to win a medal,” Pillay said while ruing his own team’s performance.
“When you lose so many matches, obviously something is wrong. We failed to get penalty corners, our defense was also not up to the mark and the forwards made several errors. In short, we played poorly and were very inconsistent.”
India gets an early opportunity to make amends when the Asia Cup is held in Malaysia next month. India, winner of eight Olympic gold medals, also need to go through the qualifying tournament in Spain next March to make the trip to the Athens Games. “We will qualify for Athens,” said Pillay, 35, who hopes to take part in his fourth Olympics. “We have time to iron out our faults. I am sure India will be on top again soon.”
