Hockey coach optimistic to do well against big teams

Gopinathan Krishnamurti, coach of the Bangladesh hockey team, is targeting to win all the matches against the opponents below ranking to Bangladesh and also to perform good against strong sides in the Asian Games.

Gopinathan, who joined the team in June and had already two overseas tour to India and Korea for preparation talked with this reporter yesterday about the team’s preparation on Tuesday. Two senior players Khorshedur Rahman and Ashraful Alam, also told about their improvement of practice before starting the practice session at the Maulana Bhashani Hockey Stadium.

Gopinathan, the Malaysian expressed some of his satisfaction that his boys getting better in all areas  day by day while the tour in India and Korea was very important where he could identify  the errors and weakness of the team.

About the development, first of all, Gopinathan explained, “The boys are getting gradually better from the day I took the charge, the combination is getting better, the basic is getting better. But I can’t say the top level but, it is a process it will take time. Overall the progressing is good.”

About penalty corners, when once Bangladesh players did well but now a days they failed to utilise the advantage as  Gopinathan said, “When I was here in 2015, I concentrated in PC attacks.  Now PC attacks are changing every year, you have to keep on continue with the process, problem is that we have not change, now we are trying, we did good in India and Korea. India are top 5 in the world, Korea is also a leading team in world hockey.”   

About lacking of insufficient coaching staff – “If you want to mean high performance that is totally difference, there you need at least 11 supporting staffs for various positions, like, video analyst, physio, doctors, assistant coaches, goalkeeping coaches, attacking coaches, many others, at the moment  I have only two assistant coaches. So I have to prepare the team with inadequate support.”  

“Actually it is not easier to do everything without enough support, I can say if I would have the support it would be easier, I could concentrate on total game.”   

“Right now we need a process, because the temperament of the game grown so high, I need to build up the tactics, attacking, tactically they are very good. Fitness is long process, so I like to take technical issues, passing, stopping tackling, marking, these are all basics tasks, if I can build up those areas, it will be good. If you are technically sound then you would be tactically okay, so I am trying to build up that part.”

“Togetherness, to play as a team even have improved, they learned a lot of new things.”

“About target I can say, first of all I told them I want to beat all the teams who are below IHF rankings than us, that is a must and good fight against big teams, this is my target.”

Khorshedur Rahman and Ashraful Alam are taking special training to take PC.  

Both the players said, “This time all teams have been doing lot of works on penalty corner attacks and penalty corners defense our coach is also working with penalty corners in both morning and evening sessions.”

“We are confident that if we can execute  the technique which he teaches us, if we can follow his every direction hopefully we will be able to do good.” 

Hockey coach optimistic to do well against big teams

Gopinathan Krishnamurti, coach of the Bangladesh hockey team, is targeting to win all the matches against the opponents below ranking to Bangladesh and also to perform good against strong sides in the Asian Games. Gopinathan, who joined the team in June and had already two overseas tour to India and Korea for preparation talked with this reporter yesterday about the teams preparation on Tuesday. Two senior players Khorshedur Rahman and Ashraful Alam, also told about their improvement of practice before starting the practice session at the Maulana Bhashani Hockey Stadium. Gopinathan, the Malaysian expressed some of his satisfaction that his boys getting better in all areas day by day while the tour in India and Korea was very important where he could identify the errors and weakness of the team. About the development, first of all, Gopinathan explained, The boys are getting gradually better from the day I took the charge, the combination is getting better, the basic is getting better. But I cant say the top level but, it is a process it will take time. Overall the progressing is good. About penalty corners, when once Bangladesh players did well but now a days they failed to utilise the advantage as Gopinathan said, When I was here in 2015, I concentrated in PC attacks. Now PC attacks are changing every year, you have to keep on continue with the process, problem is that we have not change, now we are trying, we did good in India and Korea. India are top 5 in the world, Korea is also a leading team in world hockey. About lacking of insufficient coaching staff If you want to mean high performance that is totally difference, there you need at least 11 supporting staffs for various positions, like, video analyst, physio, doctors, assistant coaches, goalkeeping coaches, attacking coaches, many others, at the moment I have only two assistant coaches. So I have to prepare the team with inadequate support. Actually it is not easier to do everything without enough support, I can say if I would have the support it would be easier, I could concentrate on total game. Right now we need a process, because the temperament of the game grown so high, I need to build up the tactics, attacking, tactically they are very good. Fitness is long process, so I like to take technical issues, passing, stopping tackling, marking, these are all basics tasks, if I can build up those areas, it will be good. If you are technically sound then you would be tactically okay, so I am trying to build up that part. Togetherness, to play as a team even have improved, they learned a lot of new things. About target I can say, first of all I told them I want to beat all the teams who are below IHF rankings than us, that is a must and good fight against big teams, this is my target. Khorshedur Rahman and Ashraful Alam are taking special training to take PC. Both the players said, This time all teams have been doing lot of works on penalty corner attacks and penalty corners defense our coach is also working with penalty corners in both morning and evening sessions. We are confident that if we can execute the technique which he teaches us, if we can follow his every direction hopefully we will be able to do good.