Hockey World League semi-finals: India look to build momentum against Poland
The Indian men’s hockey team meet Poland in their second encounter in pool A of the Hockey World League (HWL) semi-finals on 23rd June at 7.30 PM. Both teams come into the match after contrasting results in their HWL opener
India went on to win their opening encounter against France by the narrowest of margins with Ramandeep Singh scoring the winner in the last minute of the match in India’s 3-2 win. On the other hand, Poland were beaten by two goals to one against Pakistan in their first match.
India will be looking to continuing their winning run before facing heavyweights Pakistan and Australia. With coach Paul van Ass introducing new combinations and strategies, this will be a good match for India to test them out against the team ranked 17th in the world. Poland, on the other hand, will look to get their 1st win of the tournament and build on their impressive performance against Pakistan.
Squad
India: PR Sreejesh, Harjot Singh, Manpreet Singh, Birendra Lakra, Rupinder Pal Singh, Jasjit Singh Kular, Gurmail Singh, Gurbaj Singh, Dharamvir Singh, Sardar Singh, Chinglensana Singh, Lalit Upadhyay, Devindar Walmiki, SV Sunil, Nikkin Thimmaiah, Yuvraj Walmiki, Akashdeep Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Satbir Singh
Poland: Arkadiusz Matuszak, Maciej Pacanowski, Arkadiusz Brozek, Michal Raciniewski, Mijolaj Gumny, Tomasz Gorny, Mateusz Hulboj, Tomasz Wachowiak, Bartosz Zywiczka, Krystian Makowski, Dawid Zimnicki, Karol Majchrzak, Piotr Kozlowski, Adrian Krokosz, Pawel Bratkowski, Maciej Wejezowski, Michal Poltaszewski, Mateusz Poltaszewski
Key Players
Sardar Singh
India's captain is surely the backbone of the team. He is as important in blunting down opposition attacks as well as providing the killer pass for the forwards to score. Even in India’s last match against France, it was his remarkable run from midfield that created the winner for Ramandeep to score.
Despite playing deep, he has the ability to come up with important goals and his ability to keep the ball moving and stay in possession is India’s biggest strength.
Ramandeep Singh
The striker scored the crucial last-minute winner against France to guide India to 3 points in the opening match of the HWL. The Punjab-based player has 42 caps to his name in which he has scored 11 times.
With SV Sunil’s injury, India will be relying on this forward to provide the goals.
Jasjit Singh Kular
With the only drag-flicker Rupinder Pal Singh injured, most of the pressure falls on Jasjit’s shoulder to convert those very important penalty corners. He was close to scoring in the 1st match against France, but his shot went agonizingly wide.
This tournament is a brilliant opportunity for the youngster to stake his claim in the team and become a mainstay for future tournaments.
Last Meeting
Last encounter between these two sides came in 2000 Sydney Olympics league match when India were denied a semi-final spot by a last-gasp equaliser by the Poland team. The match ended 1-1.
Prediction
India will look to get full points against the Polish and continue building momentum for the tougher games against Pakistan and Australia in the upcoming days.
I am going for: India 3-1 Poland.
The match begins at 19:30 IST on Star Sports.