'Now no one can take his place for granted'

Chief coach of India's senior hockey team Cedric D'Souza on Monday hailed the junior World Cup triumph, saying it is "just superb and a shot in the arm for Indian hockey".

He said the team was able to do well because most of the players were in the senior team for quite some time at different tournaments and had quite a lot of international exposure.

"There were eight boys who went with the senior team on the Malaysia-Australia tour; seven were at the World Cup qualifiers in Birmingham and seven were at the Azlan Shah tournament. So at any given time, there were seven or eight players in the senior team; and that toughened them up," he said.

He added: "And having C R Kumar and Saju Joseph [assistant coach and trainer of the senior team] with them was a big advantage. The boys have been under both of them for almost two years."

D'Souza, who coached the Indian team for the Atlanta Olympics in 1996, dismissed all talk about including the victorious junior team members in the senior squad, saying: "Many are not aware, but Devesh Chaunan, Kanwalpreet Singh, Bimal Lakra, Gagan Ajit Singh, Prabhjot Singh, Bipin Fernandez and Arjun Halappa are already with the senior team; they were all there at the World Cup qualifiers."

He, however, was quick to add that tough there is "a big disparity" between the junior and senior levels internationally, one thing is certain, "now no one in the senior team can take his place for granted".

"Now there will be tough competition for all positions. You see, now we have at least three players who can fit into any particular position," he added

"Really thrilled," was how former Olympic forward Mervyn Fernandis reacted to Sunday's triumph.

He said, "Like me, many former India players too feel part of the victory. I would say let's have a drink or two to say cheers to the team."

Mervyn, who represented India at the 1980, 84, 88 Olympics, and also captained the team at the junior World Cup in Versailles, France in 1979, where India finished fifth, however, cautioned from going overboard with the success.

"It's a great feeling, but we should not get carried away," he said.

Asked whether a good number of players from the junior team should be added to the senior squad, now training for the World Cup in February-March next year, he said: "We have to be a careful about what we do. True, a few players are good enough to be inducted to the senior side, but just picking some of them for the sake of it could prove disastrous as hockey at the senior level is a different ball game."

Complete Coverage: 7th Junior Men's World Cup 2001