BIKANER (PTI): India will abandon the European style of hockey and switch back to the traditional sub continental game in the forthcoming Indira Gandhi International tournament, chief coach Harmik Singh said.
All the teams in India play in the traditional style in the domestic tournaments, this is our tradition. And, 1 also prefer it,’ he said in Bikaner in Rajasthan.
Harmik Singh, appointed chief coach by the Indian hockey federation for the Indira Gandhi tournament, starting in Bombay from March 15 to 20, said he would prepare the team to play attacking hockey.
‘I do not believe in defensive play. It is not our style,’ Harmik Singh, who had coached India for the 1981 Bombay World Cup, said.
He said the subcontinent’s style is two pronged hockey attack and defence while the European game stresses mainly on defence.
He said European style’s main aim is to stop the free flowing attacks of the Indian sub continental game. India and Pakistan depend more on counter attacks and penalty comers.
Article extracted from this publication >> March 5, 1993
