NEW DELHI, 1 June 2004 — India's field hockey team leaves on a three-month foreign tour yesterday hoping to return at the end of August with something, which has eluded the game's former masters for 24 years - an Olympic medal.
The 26 Olympic probables, including veteran Dhanraj Pillay, will train in the United States and play tournaments in the Netherlands and Germany before a final 16-man squad travels to Athens for the Aug. 13-29 Games.
"These will be the three most important months of my life," said coach Rajinder Singh during a media session at the National Stadium here before the team's departure.
"I think we have the resources to win an Olympic medal. We can do it if we play to our full potential."
The Indians will train at the Athletes Performance Institute in Phoenix, Arizona, until June 21 before moving to Amsterdam for a four-nation event against Germany, the Netherlands and Pakistan from June 25 to July 4. There will be one more coaching stint in Dusseldorf, Germany, until the first week of August including another four-nation tournament against England, France and the hosts.
India, who won seven Olympic golds between 1928 and 1964, have fallen badly since adding an eighth gold at the Moscow Games in 1980 which did not feature hockey powerhouses like Australia, Germany and Pakistan due to the US-led boycott.
The Indians, who finished seventh at Sydney four years ago, have enlisted the services of two German coaches, Oliver Kurtz and Gerhard Rach, to help Rajinder fine-tune the probables before the Olympics.
Kurtz was the star striker of the German team which won gold at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, while Rach has previously trained German clubs and the national teams of Zimbabwe and Kenya.
"Having the two Germans around will benefit us a lot," said the 35-year-old Pillay, who hopes to take part in his fourth Olympics after being recalled to the preliminary squad following public protests at his initial exclusion.
Pillay, who was not considered for the Olympic qualifiers in Spain in March, said he had fully recovered from a knee injury and looked forward to playing at Athens.
"Hope I can be fourth time lucky and help India win a medal," said the best known face of Indian hockey with more than 400 internationals to his credit.
India, who have shown signs of a resurgence in the past year by winning the Asia Cup and securing fourth place at the elite six-nation Champions Trophy, face a grueling test at the Olympics.
They have been drawn in Pool B of the 12-nation event alongside defending champions the Netherlands, Australia, Argentina, New Zealand and South Africa. Pool A comprises Pakistan, Germany, South Korea, Great Britain, Spain and Egypt. The top two teams from each pool will qualify for the semifinals.
