Any victory over Australia is worth cherishing. And the win becomes invaluable when it comes in a sport that they have dominated for nearly a decade.
Any victory over Australia is worth cherishing. And the win becomes invaluable when it comes in a sport that they have dominated for nearly a decade.
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| Viren Rasquinha.
pic courtesy/flickr.com |
The Indian hockey team beat the reigning World Champions 4-3 in the Sultan Azlan Shah tournament in Malaysia yesterday ufffd seven years after the Dilip Tirkey-led Indians beat the Aussies 5-3 in Sydney. Viren Rasquinha, who was part of the squad that trounced the Kookaburras in their backyard in 2003, explained what made a win over Australia so special. "Australia are such a strong hockey-playing nation that I'd rate a victory over them greater than a win over any other team ufffd even Pakistan for that matter," the former India skipper told MiD DAY yesterday.
"The Aussies take a lot of pride in their game and defeats don't go down well with them. I'm sure yesterday's loss would have hurt their coach and master strategist Ric Charlesworth a lot," added the Olympian.
Reacting to suggestions that the Aussies have sent a second string side experimental side to Malaysia, Rasquinha shot back: "So have India! With both teams having an inexperienced line-up, it was au00a0 fair battle."
However, the win has a host of merits for Rajpal Singh & Co. "This was also India's third consecutive win in an international tournament and I'm not sure when that happened last. Earlier in the week, we beat Pakistan (4-2) and South Korea (3-2) which are very strong teams in Asian hockey.
"This keeps us in good stead the Commonwealth Games (October 3-14) and the Asian Games (November 12-27)," explained Rasquinha, before sounding a warning.
"The tournament is not over. We have this tendency to get complacent after playing well. We can't let that happen or the Aussies will bounce back," he signed off.
