Indian hockey has developed a bigger pool of players: Sardar Singh

New Delhi: Notwithstanding their poor penalty conversion rate in the recently concluded Europe tour, Indian captain Sardar Singh on Saturday said that hockey has certainly developed a bigger player pool with the future of the national sport looking bright.

India had started their European sojourn with back to back victories over France before defeating Spain 2-1 in a three-match series.

"The young players played exceptionally well and which is gradually adding to our strengths as we have a bigger pool of players to choose from before each tournament," Sardar said after arriving at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here.

However, the age-old problem of poor penalty corner conversion continued to affect the Indians as they managed to score only five goals from short corners in the five matches. The side looked vulnerable in their 1-4 loss to Spain and Sardar was quick to admit the teams follies.

"We are in high spirits after the win in the European Tour and have come back with many learnings along with the weaknesses that needs to be worked upon. I think we need to work on converting scoring opportunities through penalty corners and which will be our emphasis before the FIH World League Final later in the year," he said.

High Performance Director and chief coach Roelant Oltmans also praised the Indian unit for its good showing.

"The team performed exceptionally well in the European Tour which proves that our players are ready to take on greater challenges," the Dutchman said.

"The highlight was that we did not give away the ball possession easily to the opponents and with the FIH Hockey World League Final scheduled to take place towards the end of this year, I hope the team does its best and displays high level performances."