Long road ahead but India will cover the distance: Zafar

Himanshu Shekhar of Zeenews.com caught up with Hockey India national selector Zafar Iqbal following FIH’s one-sided ban on Shivendra Singh.

Zafar Iqbal is a former Olympian and member of the national hockey team, which won the last Olympics Gold for India in field hockey in 1980. After Moscow Olympics Gold, India has not won any major tournament.

Zafar Iqbal is currently the national selector in Hockey India. Himanshu Shekhar of Zeenews.com caught up with the Olympian following FIH’s one-sided ban on Shivendra Singh, the hero of India’s 4-1 win against Pakistan. Congratulations for India’s victory against Pakistan. Did you expect the result? Well….well well! Win against Pakistan is always special and what makes it more important is the fact that it has come in the opening match of the World Cup. It will give the right kind of impetus to our players for future matches in the tournament. You are a national selector and a lot of credit goes to the selection panel. Keeping in mind the grievances that the players had against Hockey India, it must have been a tough call to decide the final line up. We must now forget the past and see the new turn of events. Couple of more wins in coming matches and we will be very close to the coveted trophy and that is our ultimate aim! Are you really expecting to win the world cup title? Yes. When we pick a team, we expect it to do well. Despite the lack of a very high quality infrastructure and good emoluments, a team when picked is expected to win. We are here to win and I have told on many occasions that this side with players like Rajpal, Deepak Thakur, Prabhjot, Sandeep Singh & others, is the best India has at the moment. So there is no reason to believe why we can’t win. What sort of strategies can be expected from Team India especially against teams like Australia and Spain, who use a different style in contrast to India’s free style hockey? That is for the team and the coach to decide. But I believe that India should play its natural free style. We can’t be defensive against these teams. Man to man marking won’t be a very good idea against them. Will Team India miss Shivendra Singh in the forward line? Will the controversy affect the Team’s morale? It is a big blow ahead of Australia match. It adds extra pressure on for the coach Jose Brasa. Team will have to alter its strategy. The use of substitution will now become all the more important. Of course, this was a harsh decision. I don’t know what forced FIH to impose such a harsh penalty. As far as I know, Pakistani team never lodged any official complaint. It was not such a big issue; it was a part of the game. The match between England and Australia was also very tough and there too many such incidents happened. The umpire himself did not notice it even though he was very close. I think we must not discuss about this issue now as we have a match against Australia. We need to move on and keep the focus. Shivendra is a tough guy and I am sure he will come back strongly. How has been the public support? Phenomenal! We need to prove that Indian hockey has the fire to bring back the glorious days. I believe that India has the bench strength to go the distance. But it is a long road and requires unflinching dedication. Home support will be our biggest strength throughout the tournament and that should inspire all the players to give their all. Who holds the key for India’s chances? This team has no trump cards. Pakistan win showed that if the team’s co-ordination is well, even higher ranked opponents can be toppled. Couple of good results and who knows, perhaps, a historic win is on the cards. Your former colleague and son of Major Dhyanchand, Ashok Kumar had given ‘no semis’ chance to this team. What’s your take? I don’t know what he said. Thanks for your valuable time Zafar and hopefully we will manage to spring out a surprise? India has been waiting for this and we have a great chance. I am keeping my fingers crossed. So does whole of India. Thank You.