MUSCAT, October 25: India\u2019s ace penalty corner shooter Harmanpreet Singh says the team is focused on retaining the Hero Asian Champions Trophy Muscat 2018, currently underway at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex here. \u201cThe Indian team goes out looking for early goals every time,\u201d says Harmanpreet, who last night scored three goals to give India a 4-1 victory over South Korea in their last league outing.<\/p>\n
India stayed on top of the league standings with 13 points from five outings. Their semi-final opponent will be determined after the last round of league matches tonight, although Malaysia, Pakistan and Japan have earned enough points to push South Korea and Oman out of the frame. \u201cThe team is maintaining its structure and focused on retaining the title,\u201d said Harmanpreet, whose coach considers him as one of the ace penalty corner takers. \u201cThe support from Indian fans here in Muscat has been wonderful,\u2019 said Harmanpreet, adding that Indian fans boost the morale of the team in all parts of the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fan support is always a big boost for us.\u201d Harmanpreet made a dramatic entry into international hockey when he made his debut in the 2016 Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Ipoh (Malaysia) and went on to represent India in the Champions Trophy in London and the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro within a couple of months. The spotlight has not left him since then. Coach Harendra Singh says Harmanpreet had developed into an excellent drag-flicker. \u201cHarmanpreet is one of the best penalty corner shooters in the game today,\u201d says Harendra, who wants the strikers to earn more penalty corners so that India\u2019s strength in that can also transform into goals.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe strikers should always keep in mind that there\u2019s an option of forcing a penalty corner when they are not finding space for a shy at the goal,\u201d said Harendra. \u201cWhen you are not finding space to shoot at the goal, try to earn penalty corners,\u201d the coach advises his strikers. \u201cThe penalty corners provide a cushion and a chance for direct shot at the goal.\u201d \u201cWe have the ability to score both with direct penalty corner flicks and on the rebounds,\u201d said Harendra. India next plays the Semi Final on Saturday, 27 October 2018.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
~ Emphasizes that the Defending Champions are focused on retaining the title ~ MUSCAT, October 25: India\u2019s ace penalty corner shooter Harmanpreet Singh says the team is focused on retaining the Hero Asian Champions Trophy Muscat 2018, currently underway at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex here. \u201cThe Indian team goes out looking for early goals […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shasakprashasak.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shasakprashasak.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shasakprashasak.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shasakprashasak.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shasakprashasak.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shasakprashasak.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3722\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shasakprashasak.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shasakprashasak.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shasakprashasak.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}