The hockey legend is upbeat about India’s chances in the upcoming Tokyo Olympics
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Vasudevan Baskaran, captain of the Indian men’s hockey team at the 1980 Moscow Olympics, believes both the men’s and women’s teams from the country are poised to bring glory at the Tokyo Olympics. Speaking with Hockey Te Charcha, a podcast series launched by Hockey India in the lead-up to the Olympic Games, Baskaran urged the teams to instill the belief that they can finish on the podium in Tokyo.
He said, “The men’s team has been playing really well. My advice to them is to keep the confidence level up. Each player has come up the hard way to reach here. It would perhaps be the first Olympics for about seven-eight players, and I feel they shouldn’t just be happy with the ‘Olympian title’ but they should aim for a medal. This is possible only when everybody in the team believes that they can be a medal-winning team and finish on the podium.”
Baskaran is of the opinion that the Indian women’s team has gained tremendous confidence since their previous outing at the 2016 Rio Olympics. “When I was playing 1980 Moscow Olympics, women’s hockey was included. Our Indian team had missed the bronze medal closely,” he added.
“After seeing the current Indian women’s hockey team, particularly from 2016 they have developed a lot of confidence. I saw them play live in Bhubaneswar when they beat USA, one of the best teams in the world. They rightfully earned the place in the Olympics.”
Baskaran has urged them to maintain their focus on reaching the final four positions. “They are on the uphill scale. I feel they are capable of doing well. They need to push themselves for the first 4 positions. I know Rani and team are capable of doing very well,” he said.
Baskaran also got nostalgic about the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games where his team won the prestigious gold after beating Spain in the final. “The team was not expected to win a medal. We were going with a young squad but the days we spent in Bangalore for the camp was very crucial in team bonding and going to Moscow ten days before the Olympics began made a lot of difference,” recalled Baskaran.
Hockey India launched the Hockey Te Charcha on 14 April, exactly 100 days ahead of the Tokyo Olympic Games. In its first episode, Hockey Te Charcha engaged in an interaction with legendary centre forward Harbinder Singh.
