00:00Hello and welcome to the final day of Hero Asia Cup 2025 in Rajgir.
00:07Rajgir has given me and Sir a very good goodbye gift.
00:12It's both of us sweating, it's so humid.
00:15It's been a very humid day.
00:18And well, as you all know, India has won the title.
00:22They have booked their place to the World Cup.
00:25Let's start off with what happened to the first two matches.
00:28It's not of big consequence, sir.
00:31But at the end, Japan finished fifth, defeating Bangladesh.
00:35And then Malaysia, rightfully, I feel, finished third.
00:39And then we came into the final.
00:41And Sir, tell me what was your feeling about that final?
00:45No, I think we spoke yesterday an opening goal, an early goal.
00:48And I think 30-40 seconds was a perfect foundation.
00:52But I think after that, you still got to give credit to Korea.
00:55Because they still wanted to come back in.
00:58They cut some channels off.
01:00I think we also stuttered somewhere.
01:03But what really took the match away from Korea was India's individual brilliance on the ball.
01:08I think as a team, if we were playing at 50-55-60%, the individual brilliance is probably something that Korea couldn't counter.
01:17And that is the reason why we got those four goals.
01:20I think an early goal, if I say an early third quarter goal from Korea would probably have come.
01:26I think the match would have still gone into a difficult position, at least for India.
01:31But in the end, I think an emphatic win.
01:35In the end, even if one can call it slightly difficult in parts.
01:39But something that is extremely rewarding, like you said, after the not so solid start in the initial phase of the tournament.
01:48And you still finish with the flourish of 4-1.
01:51And you know, sir, one of the best things that I loved about this performance was the fact that we kept it very simple.
01:58There was nothing flashy.
02:00There was nothing.
02:01It was just plain simple hockey.
02:03And sometimes that is what we demand from this team.
02:05And today they delivered.
02:07Like the first moment, like you said, you were the one to point this out to me as well.
02:11That Harman Preet plays that kind of a Sardar role at some points.
02:15And that opened the first goal for us.
02:18He just danced through everybody, set up Sukhji, just one, two passes, end.
02:23Second goal, similar.
02:25Third, fourth, we could see that it was just simple build-up play.
02:30I think the second goal, where Harman put it up to Sanjay.
02:34Sanjay then passed it to Dilpreet.
02:36Game was over.
02:37And now, I think after this performance, we can say that, finally, we can say we are the best team in Asia.
02:44Absolutely.
02:45But let me just ask you one question, a question that I think a lot of people are asking.
02:50I think a lot of these kind of questions will be up for the selectors in the future.
02:54And also, it's a very difficult question for the president of Hockey India, Dilip Turkey also.
03:01But if I just ask you, what is your feeling about the goalkeepers now?
03:05I know today there was a goal which Karkera conceded.
03:09And a lot of boys, a lot of people out there was, you know, certain relief that it wasn't part of it in a way.
03:16But do you believe that there should be changes in the goalkeeping area?
03:20Do you believe there should be changes at all?
03:23Sir, I think for me personally, you know, replacing PR Srijesh is a big task.
03:29You were not going to replace a legend like him.
03:33But I expect more from this group.
03:35Because Krishan has been with this team for such a long period of time.
03:40Suraj has been in the wings.
03:41So, I feel, I want more from them.
03:44No, I'm not saying probably they're going to do a Srijesh and save us in a penalty shootout.
03:50It was only Srijesh who could do it.
03:53But at least in normal games, I think the first game against China, where we considered three soft goals.
04:00Then today, I think that goal could have been prevented.
04:04It could have been a little bit smarter from them.
04:06But yeah, I think even Dilip Turki said, there are a lot of goalkeepers.
04:10But we are keeping faith in these guys.
04:12For me, I want more.
04:14That is, I don't expect them to be Srijesh level.
04:17But I want more from the goalkeeping department.
04:20Suraj has been better.
04:22Krishan has been the one coping a lot of criticism.
04:25But yeah, I think for now, I think the coach, the team management, the Hockey India, they are all going behind these guys.
04:33Credit to them.
04:34But I expect more in the coming tournaments as well.
04:38Now coming to, now that this tournament is behind us, it's on to Mission 2026, the World Cup.
04:46Something that last time around, when it was hosted in India, India had a terrible performance.
04:52Craig Fulton came in, he spoke about his ambitions of winning the World Cup with India.
04:57Is it a chance?
04:58Is there a chance?
04:59There is almost a year now.
05:02What do you see India's chances being?
05:04I think when you qualify directly, there's relief in the team.
05:09Because you really don't have to go through the qualifying rounds, which can become very tough.
05:13But I need to point out something, is that the time difference between the Asian Games and the World Cup is hardly 15-20 days.
05:22One of the tournaments is going to suffer.
05:24Unless you take the team to a very different level, you kind of mix and match a team that can play extremely well in the World Cup.
05:31And at the same time, play extremely well in the Asian Games, because understand the Asian Games' gold is priority, because you need to go directly to LA.
05:40But we haven't done well in a World Cup, leave alone getting into a semi-final.
05:45We haven't even won anything after 75.
05:49So I think the pressure is on Craig, the pressure is on the team.
05:52The pressure is on players like Manpreet, Harman, who probably feel this is their last chance of doing something in a World Cup.
06:00The team mix, and that is the area where I think Craig is going to feel huge pressure as to what is that team mix that he is going to take to the World Cup.
06:10I think you have a Pro League, you will also have the Hockey India League, you have a Junior World Cup coming up.
06:15These are good preparatory tournaments to try out other players, because World Cup, the team mix has to be such that you can last the crossover game, which is extremely important.
06:28And we lost to New Zealand in the LA, you know, and then you still got to hit the quarterfinals, which is extremely again important.
06:36But yeah, the mix is going to be important, and I don't envy Craig at all in this situation.
06:41You know, coming about the Junior World Cup, which is going to be the next big event in India, is there going to be a big eye on the players who are taking part in it?
06:52Are we going to see a mix of those players being thrust, you know, almost throwing them into the deep end, but are we going to see them being thrust into that position?
07:02Do we have players of the quality that were there when we last won the World Cup?
07:08I don't know. I don't feel that thing in the team, you know, because a lot of players came out of that mix, you know, all a part of the national team now.
07:17But yeah, I think you will probably see at least a couple of players trying to move up, because if you don't do that phase, then you're going to lose out on a large amount of players.
07:26Because this team, I don't want to call it an aging team in a sense, because, you know, these boys still, and in today's sport, I think you would completely agree that you can play till 35, you can play till 36.
07:39Hockey is different on a turf, because it really hits your knees.
07:42But I think with good contributions from the physios and from the bench and all the backups that we have, the teams can last.
07:51But you still need two, three, four players who can take that phase out and join this particular team so that they can be well prepared for the LA Olympics.
08:01I think it's a tough ask. Craig is going to be sitting there watching all the games, because he also needs to watch Germany, Holland, Australia, all of them, because some of those players are going to come into the mix.
08:12So I think it's a tough, tough decision out there. But I really hope that the Junior World Cup throws up a few players.
08:19So with that, I think it's time to wrap up. And one last question, sir. I think we have covered hockey. We are almost done with it.
08:28What about the crowd? What about Rajgir? What did you feel about this city?
08:32Apart from the heat, the probably inconsistent rain, sometimes like our team's performance. But how about Rajgir? How was it as a host?
08:43No, they were excellent as a host. I think they're organizing. If you really ask me in terms of percentages, I don't want to compare it to Bhuvaneshwar.
08:51I don't know if you've been to Bhuvaneshwar, if you've covered tournaments there or not. But they have a head start on how to ensure that the media covers it well.
09:00How to ensure that the fans sit well, you know. The only thing is that, you know, when you have seatings, and then when at least 40% of the crowd is standing,
09:09you do feel for the fans a bit. That can we give them better, you know. Because they are the ones who kind of bring the excitement to the matches, you know.
09:18Otherwise, it's like a COVID situation where you've got an empty stadium. But I think more needs to be done for the fans.
09:25You know, that's a big thing that we keep asking. We keep putting this into articles, into television.
09:31And you've seen so much sport across Europe on TV. Look at the stuff that we give to their fans.
09:37And I think Rajgir will do so much better, if they want to advance with more tournaments, is to get more and more access for the fans, so that they can sit comfortably.
09:46And with that, we are saying goodbye to Rajgir. It has been a wonderful ride for me, and I'm pretty sure for Sir as well.
09:55At the end, seeing how this Indian team has performed, coming up from a very shaky start to almost hitting gear at the right point, showing their mentality, showing their skills, and keeping it simple at the end of the day to secure the title.
10:15Their fourth Asia Cup title after eight years, I think we couldn't ask for a bigger parting gift than this.
10:23So, this is me, Alan John, and Sandeep Mishra, Sir, saying goodbye.
10:29And hopefully, we meet you guys soon. Maybe in the Junior World Cup, we don't know.
10:33But hopefully, until next time, stay safe, and this is goodbye from Rajgir, and goodnight.
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