‘Want to build momentum for season’

New Delhi: Despite being placed in a tough pool, India captain Sardar Singh is confident that the hosts are ready for the challenge and aim to reach the semi-finals of the upcoming Hero Hockey World League Finals.

“Every match is tough at the international level. Even if you face teams like Bangladesh, you cannot take them too lightly. We have prapared well and our target is to finish in the top four of five teams,” Sardar said here  on Wednesday.

“We will take it one match at a time and our focus right now is on our first match against England,” he added. India are in Pool A along with Olympic silver medallists Germany, New Zealand and England.

The national team have struggled in several big tournaments last year including the Junior World Cup at home. Sardar blamed the poor performances on injuries to several key forwards.

“Some of the players in the forwardline were struggling with injuries. Gurwinder Chandi was injured for the last few months. Akashdeep (Singh) was alos injured. But I sure they will stage a strong comeback in this tournament,” the skipper stated.

The midfield maestro also remarked that the HWL was being looked upon as a dress rehersal for the World Cup to be held in  Holland later this year and a good performance here would be taken into consideration while selecting the squad for the big event.

“This is an important tournament and will allow us to evaluate players and help us to identify the team for the World Cup. Performance in the HWL will be considered during the selection process,” he said.

The India side, who last played at the Asia Cup in September, have busy year ahead. They will be competing in the Commonwealth Games, Asian Games besides the World Cup later this year and Sardar hoped that the HWL will prove to be a good start.

“There are lot of important tournaments lined up for us. We would want to build some momentum in this tournament to have successful year,” he added.
Germans deny favourites tag

Germany captain Oliver Korn, who was also present on the occasion, was modesty personified when asked to rate the chances of the 2010 World Cup runners-up.

The European powerhouse have been unable to do too much outdoor training at home due to the harsh winter and Korn said that it may affect his team’s performance. “We have not played too much outdoor hockey at home for some time now. We just are coming off an indoor season and it will be difficult for us to adjust,” he said.