Tokyo Olympics- 'Wake-up call for us': Manpreet Singh on Australia thrashing
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"We created a lot of opportunities and we will work on our last pass. In the quarter-finals and match against japan will be difficult because they will be a good team and they will not give us easy chances."
India men's hockey team were handed a crushing defeat by the Australians after the Kookaburras thrashed the Men in Blue 7-1. However, Manpreet Singh and Co. bounced back after beating defending Olympic-gold medalist Argentina, 3-1, on Thursday.
Talking about a win against Argentina, Manpreet told reporters: "Tournament is not over. We have a match against Japan tomorrow and there is so much left. We will not be thinking about how we defeated defending Olympic champions tomorrow. We all played well and dominated the first three quarters but still, we missed our chances. Our defence did good and we will carry this further in the tournament and will focus on tomorrow's match."
"We created a lot of opportunities and we will work on our last pass. In the quarter-finals and match against japan will be difficult because they will be a good team and they will not give us easy chances."
Singh also talked about 7-1 thrashing that was handed by Australia and called it a 'wake-up call'.
"That was a wake-up call for us. We were very disappointed and we focused on our next matches."
"Obviously there is heat but somehow we have an upper hand because there also we were training in the afternoon and here too our matches are scheduled before noon. That's why we have an advantage. But for everyone the weather is same."
India will take on hosts Japan in their last Group A game at Oi Hockey Stadium on Thursday at 3:00 pm IST.