Confident India coach eyes Azlan Shah title

Ipoh, Malaysia, May 10 (UNI) Buoyed by the fighting spirit shown by his boy's in the tournament, India coach Joaquim Carvalho exuded confidence that his boys have what it takes to win the Azlan Shah hockey tournament title.

India lost to Australia 0-1, but bounced back to beat China 5-4 and Argentina 2-0 in the next two group matches to progress into the semi-finals.

Tomorrow, the Indians play hosts Malaysia in the second semi-finals while Australia take on South Korea in the first.

The game against the South Americans was their best as they kept up their attack until the end and managed to score two goals in the last three minutes of the match.

Despite including a host of youngsters in the team, India start favourites after their good showing in the three previous matches at the group stage.

''This match is the right start to our team rebuilding process. This young team has shown that they have what it takes to be competitive at international level and I believe that we will only get better from here,'' the Carvalho said.

''I cannot praise any one player as every member of the team have done their part and we have a new self-belief in the team.

This augurs well for the future,'' he said.

But the Indian coach is not under-estimating their opponents.

''Malaysia is also riding high after making it to the semi-finals and they have also included a number of juniors who are performing well,'' he added.

But the aggressive performance of the forward line has given Carvalho the confidence to dream big.

''They are finally playing the Indian way. They are taking on defenders and are complementing each other. This is great and for me that is the way to go. We are going to see of this kind of performance in the future,'' he promised.

The Indians have rotated their forward line with Prabhjot Singh, Tushar Khandakar, Bharat Chikkara, Rajpal Singh, Shivender Singh and Roshanan Minz.

Rajpal is having one of his best tournaments where his distribution of the ball into the D has been superb. But he needs to be more aggressive when moving along the flank as opposing defenders tend to body check him easily.

Chikkara and Minz, who made their debuts, have delivered under pressure.

''But it is just not the forwards. Our midfield is doing great work and I'm extremely pleased with the efforts of Vikram Kanth.

They are all doing a good job and we need to build on this team,'' he said.

Drag flicker V Raghunath has been suspended for a match after receiving the second yellow card in the match against the Argentines.

But the Indians are appealing to tournament director Ian Faulkner to allow the 18-year old to play.

However, apparently the Indian team did not need to appeal as it might be due to a mistake made by officials when recording the scoresheet.

They claim that it was not a red card offence and he should not be penalized further with a one match suspension.

But Carvalho is not unduly worried about the player's absence.

He said that Didar Singh will replace him in the midfield and has high hopes that the forwards will get it right.

''If we can score from the field attempts then we will have no problems. The penalty corners will not count. I believe that my forwards will deliver and we will get the goals,'' he said.

Strategy-wise the Indians are expected to keep up their attacking game plan. Carvalho attributed the attacking tempo of the players for their win against Argentina.

''We knew we had to keep up the attack against Argentina to win. And that ploy worked. We will certainly devise something for Malaysia. We have already played them in a practice match and have seen them in action here,'' he said.

In the two practice matches played in Kuala Lumpur before the tournament, the Indians lost the first match 0-1 and drew the other 1-1. It was after these two matches that midfielder Ignace Tirkey quit the team under mysterious circumstances and Vikram was called up at the 11th hour.

India, winners in 1985, 1991 and 1995 have had bad experiences in the meet over the last few years.

Tomorrow they will get a chance to erase the bitter memories by booking a berth in the final.

UNI