Hockey team gets cracking for World Cup qualifier

Smarting under the Sydney Olympics debacle, the Indian hockey team is preparing afresh for the coming season, with an eye on a berth in the 2002 World Cup in Kuala Lumpur.

Atlanta Olympics coach Cedric D'Souza, who replaced V Bhaskaran following the seventh place finish at Sydney, has chalked out a systematic plan to lead the team to a better tomorrow.

"My main aim is to get ourselves prepared well for the World Cup qualifiers," Cedric said on Tuesday.

India will be vying for one of the seven berths up for grabs at the 16-nation qualifying tournament in Edinburgh, Scotland, from June 17 to 29.

"We have to think positively in all aspects to reach our goal," he added.

D'Souza, who worked with 55 probables at a camp in Ludhiana last month, said he is trying to get rid of the shortcomings "I witnessed in Sydney".

"This is not to undermine V Bhaskaran in any way. But what I saw during the Olympics, I want to rectify some of the flaws in the Indian team's play," D'Souza said.

A three-Test series against Germany, starting on February 26, and a six-nation tournament in Dhaka from March 10 to 20 are India's immediate concerns.

"To get prepared for these important events and to get into the groove for the Edinburgh tournament, a short camp for the 40 selected probables has been scheduled from February 11 to 25," he informed.

India will play Germany as part of the Indo-German series at three venues across the country. The first match will be in Bombay on February 26 while Hyderabad will host the second on March 1. Madras will be the venue for the last match on March 4.

"After that we will have a short camp in Chennai itself before heading for Dhaka," D'Souza said.

He went on to say that the Dhaka organisers are trying to make the tournament an eight-nation event, though there's no confirmation on that.

India will also be looking to regain a place in the 2002 Champions Trophy when it plays host to the Champions Challenge Trophy in December. The winner of the December event will get a direct entry into the 2002 Champions Trophy in Belgium.

"India has not qualified for the Champions Trophy since 1995 and we want to break that tradition," the coach said.

At Ludhiana camp last month, D'Souza said the focus was on physical, mental and tactical aspects of the game.

"We did not allow the players to have passive rest. We insisted on active rest after days of hard work," he said, adding it is better to watch television or video, or discuss on any other topic to unwind oneself rather than sleeping.

At the next camp, he said, the emphasis will be on set plays and penalty-corners.

While 18 players will attend the second Ludhiana camp, 22 will practice in Patiala before the final team is selected for the series against Germany.

"There will be another team --- a development team -- chosen from the probables for the five- nation tournament in Egypt, which features India, Kenya, France, Belgium and the hosts," he informed.