New Delhi: The Indian men team are all set to depart for the Europe Tour wherein they will be seen clashing against France and Spain. During the Tour, India will play twice against France and thrice against Spain and will be in preparation for the all important FIH Hockey World League Final to be held in India later this year.

Speaking ahead of the departure Roelant Oltmans, Director, High Performance and Indian Men Chief Coach said, “In most of the matches while we get more opportunities to score we have just been unable to capitalise on the opportunities. During our practice at Shilaroo, we have been working on our attack as well as defence and in the process inculcating in us the attitude to win."

Speaking further he said “I always divide the game of hockey in two parts which is possession and non possession and this depends on the skills as well as our cohesion on the field. Within possession we have to ensure that it results in creating goal scoring opportunities and even capitalising on them. In non possession we have to work on how well to defend, how do we push the attack back and look at getting the possession back."

Speaking on the structure of the team he said “Defending we do with 11 players and attacking we do with 11 players. Each and every one has a role and they are aware of it. When we are attacking and we are in the final quarter of the pitch then our defender should not stay close to our D, rather they have to push up and be in a position, so that if we lose possession then we have to immediately regain possession. If our defenders are far back then that leaves a gap in the midfield and incase opponents gets the possession then that immediately puts pressure on the goalkeeper. So we have to keep our structure in place with our roles specified and this helps get the best out of the team."

Speaking on the preparation, Captain Sardar Singh said “During our training we worked on basic training while even enhancing our fitness levels. The team is confident and looking forward to the tour. We have around 35 International games before the RIO Olympics and we want to make the most of them. Our first match in the upcoming tour is against France and they have been playing brilliant hockey in the recent years and they will be a challenge for us. We are confident of doing well against France and Spain.”

India will be playing their first match on 3rd August 2015 against France and will be played at 21.30 IST.