Here as relationship coach for junior team: Graham Reid

India,
who
won
the
last
edition
of
the
Junior
World
Cup
in
Lucknow
in
2016,
will
start
their
campaign
from
pool
B,
taking
on
France
on
the
opening
day
here
on
November
24.

After
guiding
India
to
a
historic
Olympic
bronze
medal
at
the
Tokyo
Olympics,
Reid
has
worked
in
tandem
with
junior
coach
BJ
Kariappa
at
SAI
Bangalore
before
shifting
base
to
Bhubaneswar.

“Now
for
me,
it’s
about
putting
the
icing
on
the
cake,
trying
to
instil
some
of
the
values
that
we
have
in
the
senior
team,
the
structures
that
are
put
in
place.

Junior
Hockey
World
Cup
2021:
India
to
begin
title
defence
against
France
on
November
24

“It’s
more
icing
on
the
cake
rather
than
having
to
rebuild
anything,”
Reid,
who
coached
the
senior
team
to
a
historic
bronze
medal
in
the
Tokyo
Olympics,
said
in
a
virtual
media
conference.

“To
be
honest,
in
the
last
month,
I’ve
definitely
been
a
relationship
coach…
You
know,
having
(good)
relationships
with
each
of
the
players
is
really
important
so
that
when
the
chips
are
down
those
things
can
come
to
the
fore.”

Hit
by
the
pandemic,
the
colts
have
been
robbed
of
any
overseas
tour
so
the
only
preparation
they
had
was
to
take
on
the
senior
team
before
the
Olympics.

“If
you
recall
before
going
to
Tokyo,
they
had
practice
games
against
senior
boys
which
was
valuable
for
both
the
teams.”

Reid
said
the
senior
camp
would
now
be
shifted
to
Bhubaneswar
within
a
week
so
that
the
junior
can
have
more
practice
matches.

The
18-member
junior
team
will
be
led
by
Vivek
Sagar
Prasad,
who
was
a
member
of
the
bronze
medal
winning
Olympics
team.

Olympic
medallist
Vivek
Sagar
Prasad
to
lead
India
in
men’s
junior
hockey
World
Cup

Asked
whether
there
would
be
added
pressure,
especially
after
their
Tokyo
achievement,
the
57-year-old
Aussie
great
said:
“I
don’t
think
so.
There
is
already
enough
pressure.

“When
you
are
the
reigning
champions,
there
is
already
some
extra
pressure.
But
what
people
would
understand
is
that
it’s
a
completely
different
team
than
what
we
had
four
years
ago.

“We
have
to
make
sure
we
trust
each
other’s
preparation
and
that’s
what
we
will
be
doing.”

The
defending
champions
are
in
an
easy
pool
with
France,
Canada
and
Poland.

“I
don’t
like
to
talk
about
other
teams
because
it
comes
back
to
bite
you.
It
doesn’t
matter
whom
you
play,
you
should
always
play
good
games.”

The
tournament
concludes
on
December
5.