New Delhi, 14th September 2023: With a chance to earn a direct Paris Olympics 2024 qualification, the Indian Men’s Hockey Team will open their 19th Asian Games Hangzhou campaign against Uzbekistan on 24 September 2023. Ahead of the all-important tournament, Indian Men’s Hockey Team goalkeeper Krishan B Pathak on Thursday spoke about his selection in the team and his family’s reaction when he broke the news to them.
~The Punjab-born goalkeeper has 103 international caps to his name~
Speaking about representing the country at the 19th Asian Games Hangzhou 2022, Pathak said, “It is definitely a proud moment for me and my family. If I look back on my journey, I never imagined that I would get the opportunity to earn more than 100 international caps for India and play my second Asian Games. It is something I will cherish for a lifetime. We will take it match by match and will not take any team for granted. We cannot let our guard down at any given time.”
“The training has been going well,” he said, before adding, “All of the players are working hard to prepare for the big tournament. On the practice pitch, we work out every day. Aside from that, we’ve had 4-5 goalkeeping sessions with Dennis, and there will be a few more in the coming days. We’ve gone over the basics again, focusing on the mistakes we made in previous tournaments and how to improve quick decision-making, among other things. Before coming to the camp, Dennis asked us what problems we were having and how we could work together to solve them.”
Pathak, a member of the Indian Men’s Hockey Team that recently won the 7th edition of the Asian Champions Trophy in Chennai, emphasised the tournament’s importance in the run-up to the Asian Games and how it helped them fine-tune their preparations.
“We have a good run of games in the lead-up to the 19th Asian Games Hangzhou 2022. We played against some top sides, so that will definitely help us in identifying what are our strong and weak points. The players will also get confidence from a good outing that they have had in the Hero Asian Champions Trophy Chennai 2023. We don’t want to repeat the mistakes going forward,” he added.
The young goalkeeper has played a perfect second fiddle to PR Sreejesh and is ready to take on the lead role too when given the opportunity. On working with Sreejesh, Pathak says, “We have an excellent bonding between us. He is one of the senior players in the team and whenever I am in doubt, I just go up to him and seek his advice on the matter. His experience of playing over the last two decades surely helped me a lot.
The Punjab-born player is one of the most talented goalkeepers to emerge from India’s Men’s Hockey Junior World Cup 2016 side. He went on to make his debut for the Senior National team at the 4 Nations Invitational Tournament 2018 in New Zealand. He was a part of the 18th Asian Games Jakarta-Palembang Bronze medal-winning team and lifted the Hero Asian Champions Trophy Muscat 2018 as joint winners with Pakistan.
HOCKEY INDIA TEAM PARTNER
Odisha (India’s Best Kept Secret) – Major Team Partner
Sports Authority of India (SAI)
Shiv Naresh
About HOCKEY INDIA
HOCKEY INDIA (HI) is the governing body with exclusive mandate to direct and conduct all activities for both men and women’s hockey in India. It is recognized by the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports, Govt. of India as the sole body responsible towards promoting Hockey in India.
Headquartered in New Delhi, Hockey India was established on 20th May, 2009 and is affiliated to the International Hockey Federation (FIH), the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and Asian Hockey Federation (AHF).
Committed to the development of Hockey in the country, Hockey India with the assistance of Sports Authority of India and Department of Sports, Government of India, trains players at sub-junior, junior and senior level. The governing body engages in Coaching the coaches with International Standard certification programs, educates and equips technical officials and umpires to find a foothold in international arena, provides world-class infrastructure and International exposure for the players besides regular international competition. Hockey India has also pioneered in bringing top International hockey events to India such as the FIH Men’s World Cup in 2010 and 2018, FIH Champions Trophy in 2014, FIH Junior Men’s World Cup in 2016 and 2021, FIH Hockey World League Final in 2017. With its vision to popularize the game and constantly promote it, Hockey India brought the Indian Men’s Hockey Team into the top three in the world. Hockey India is also dedicated to getting the Indian Women’s Hockey Team into the top three in the world.
About ODISHA
Odisha – the Eastern State of India – is known for its love for Hockey and over the years it has evolved to be the Global Hub of Hockey. The State successfully hosted the Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup Bhubaneswar 2018, followed by the FIH Men’s Series Finals Bhubaneswar Odisha, FIH Olympic Qualifiers Odisha, and FIH Hockey Pro League 2020-21. Odisha has previously hosted the Champions Trophy 2014 and the Odisha Men’s Hockey World League Final Bhubaneswar 2017. Odisha also hosted the FIH Men’s Hockey Junior World Cup in 2021.
Kalinga Lancers, the team owned by the State, were the winners in the Hockey India League 2017. Taking a step further towards realising the dream of restoring the glory of Indian Hockey at the global level, the State is sponsoring the Indian Hockey Teams till 2033.
Odisha also hosted the FIH Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup 2023.
