Nilakanta Sharma hopes more youngsters from Manipur will take up hockey

At
the
recently
held
Olympic
Games
Tokyo
2020
where
India
won
the
historic
bronze,
Nilakanta
was
impressive
in
the
midfield
as
he
executed
the
team’s
plans
and
showed
why
he
is
a
team
player.
He
believes
there
is
still
a
lot
more
for
him
to
improve
ahead
of
an
important
calendar
year
in
2022.

He
said,
“I
have
had
some
time
to
introspect
about
my
own
performance
over
these
past
few
years
with
the
Senior
team.
I
think
I
have
been
very
fortunate
to
have
played
along
with
some
of
the
best
players
in
India
and
have
been
able
to
learn
a
lot
from
them.
I
always
like
to
keep
things
simple
and
execute
what
is
expected
of
me
from
the
team.
Each
player
is
assigned
a
certain
role
by
the
coach
and
I
just
try
to
stick
to
it.”

Nilakanta
was
also
instrumental
in
India’s
successful
campaign
at
the
FIH
Junior
Men’s
World
Cup
in
2016
and
he
came
into
the
senior
setup
in
2017.
There
has
been
no
looking
back
for
this
youngster
from
Manipur.
“I
believe
there
is
a
lot
of
scope
for
me
to
improve
my
own
game
from
here
on
and
build
on
this
performance
in
Tokyo.
It
was
absolutely
an
incredible
feeling
to
win
the
Bronze
Medal
and
I
have
received
a
lot
of
love
from
the
people
of
Manipur
all
through
my
career.”

“Definitely
there
is
a
lot
of
potential
for
Manipur
Hockey
to
grow
further.
A
lot
of
good
things
are
happening
in
the
state
and
the
emphasis
is
on
creating
good
infrastructure.
I
hope
my
performance
in
Tokyo
has
inspired
more
youngsters
from
my
state
to
take
up
hockey,”
stated
the
26-year-old.

Having
got
a
good
break
following
the
Olympics,
Nilakanta
is
now
eager
to
regroup
with
his
teammates
in
SAI,
Bengaluru
when
the
National
Coaching
Camp
begins
in
October.
“We
will
now
sit
down
as
a
team
and
analyse
our
performance
in
the
Olympics.
I
personally
like
these
team
meetings
because
everyone
contributes
and
gets
to
put
across
their
views.
We
discuss
what
worked
for
us
as
a
team
and
what
didn’t.
Also,
there
is
so
much
to
learn
from
the
leadership
group
which
includes
the
senior
players
and
I
am
looking
forward
to
returning
to
Camp,”
he
concluded.

Source:
HI
Release