Indian men's hockey team has an edge over its rivals in the upcoming Asian Champions Trophy but will need to perform consistently to clinch the title, captain P R Sreejesh said today.
"We have an edge over the Asian countries because we are playing European and Indian style of hockey, but we need to perform consistently," Sreejesh told PTI in an interview here.
An 18-member Indian team, to be captained by Sreejesh, was announced today for the fourth Asian Champions Trophy to be held in Kuantan, Malaysia from October 20 to 30.
Sreejesh, however, conceded that some work needs to be done to strengthen India's fowardline, which he said has not been at its best.
"Some work needs to be done to bolster our forwardline. It has not been at our best. However, this team is capable of scoring many goals as we had seen in Sultan Azlan Shah Cup match against Pakistan where we thrashed our rival 5-1," he said.
The Indian captain said that at this level no team can take any opposition lightly. "We are Asian champions, but we cannot take chances. Koreans are developing their team for 2018 Asian Games. They have been playing good hockey which was evident playing against them Champions Trophy in London," said Sreejesh.
"Malaysia and Pakistan also are working hard in developing their teams. Pakistan is doing it after failing to qualify for the world cup last time around," he added.
He informed that the experienced drag-flicker V R Raghunath has been left out of the team due to his elbow injury. "Actually, Raghunath was having pain in the elbow for a long time.
He is under treatment and that is why we changed him," the Indian goalkeeper said.
In the last edition in 2013 in Japan, India sent a second-string team comprising mostly of junior players and they had finished fifth out of six teams.