I expect India to be in Final: Korean Men's Hockey Team Coach Shin Seok Kyo
Bhubaneswar, 24 November 2017: The Korean Men's Hockey Team arrived at the Biju Patnaik International Airport here today hoping to gain maximum exposure from the Odisha Men’s Hockey World League Final Bhubaneswar 2017. The team will play two friendly matches against the East Coast Railway apart from playing a friendly match against Olympic Gold Medalists Argentina.
“This is part of our preparations for the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia. We have 20 players out of which 10 are experienced players and will play the Asian Games while 10 other players are young and we want to test these youngsters with this exposure,” stated Shin Seok Kyo, Chief Coach of Korean Men’s Team.
Though the Korean Team is not among the eight participating teams at the Odisha Men's Hockey World League Final Bhubaneswar 2017, they will play friendly matches at the Kalinga Stadium against East Coast Railway Team on November 26 and November 30 and also play a friendly against World No.1 Argentina on November 28th. They will also conduct three training sessions at the Kalinga Stadium starting Saturday for their squad. “These are high level matches for us. Playing a friendly match against Argentina is a big exposure for many of our players and I hope this will help in our preparation for Asian Games which is Olympic Qualifier. I believe the local team we are playing against also has very talented players and it will benefit both teams. We also stay for the first three days of the tournament so we will get to watch all eight teams play matches,” added the Coach who is also a former fullback for the Korean national team. At the recently held Hero Asia Cup 2017, Korea missed a berth to Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup Bhubaneswar 2018, as they finished fourth in the tournament. They drew 1-1 against India in the Super 4s and eventually missed the Bronze medal as they lost to Pakistan 3-6.
On asked who according to him is the favourite to win the tournament, he said, “All eight teams are even but I look to see India in the Final."
