By Anand Philar, IANS
Chennai : Chief national hockey coach Joaquim Carvalho sought to play down India’s series win over Belgium here Thursday and stressed that the five matches were merely a preparatory exercise for the Olympic qualifying tournament in Santiago, Chile in March.
“The Test series has proved to be a good base for the assessment of our players. Winning against Belgium team is one thing and happiness of that victory is another. I feel, the players still have to lift their game a few more notches and work on the mistake they committed during the five games here,” he said.
India won the five-Test series 3-1. The first match was a 4-4 draw before the Indians won the next three 5-0, 3-2 and 2-1 while the Belgians enjoyed a 3-2 success in the concluding game.
Carvalho reiterated that the main objective of the Indian team was to qualify for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Only the winner of the six-team tournament in Santiago March 1-9 will qualify for the games.
“That is our biggest challenge and all matches before that should be seen in that perspective,” Carvalho pointed out.
The coach appreciated the fact that he was given the opportunity to try out some of the younger players and said that the newcomers adapted themselves well to the conditions and opponents.
Carvalho felt that picking the final squad would not be easy as there was competition for virtually every position.
“However, as I have been saying all along, performance alone will be the criteria for selection and so, no player can afford to be complacent or take his place in the team for granted,” he said.