Training along with senior team has been a boon ahead of Jr Hockey World Cup: Vivek Sagar Prasad

By PTI

BENGALURU: Olympic bronze medal-winning hockey midfielder Vivek Sagar Prasad believes training along with the senior team has placed defending champions India in good stead ahead of the upcoming FIH Junior World Cup in Bhubaneswar.

Both the Indian men’s senior and junior sides are currently housed inside the SAI campus here and Prasad said it has provided the India colts a golden opportunity to play matches against each other, helping them in their preparation for the Junior World Cup to be held from November 24 to December 5.

“Our preparations are going really well and every player is giving his 100 per cent on the field during practice. Sharing the same campus as the senior team has been the biggest boon because we have been able to get a lot of match practice against them,” said Prasad, who is eligible to play in the upcoming event.

“We also spend a lot of time talking to the seniors about playing under pressure and then experiences they share is valuable,” added Prasad, who was part of the Indian team that won a historic bronze at the Tokyo Olympics.

Hosts India are placed in Pool B along with Canada, France and Poland, while Pool A consists of Belgium, Malaysia, South Africa and Chile.

Netherlands, Spain, Korea and United States are grouped in Pool C while Germany, Argentina, Pakistan and Egypt are in Pool D.

“No doubt it will be a tough competition but we will continue to go by the mantra of taking one-match-at-a-time. Our first priority will be to top the group and make it to the quarterfinals,” Prasad said, talking about the level of competition.

“For me, I never had the opportunity of playing in the 2016 FIH Junior Men’s World Cup as I had suffered an injury and eventually never made the team. I am really looking forward to use my experience with the senior team. Our focus is to make it to the podium.”