Indian men's hockey team captain Manpreet Singh credits coach Graham Reid's 'calming influence' for win in FIH Series Finals

Mumbai: Indian Men’s Hockey Team Captain Manpreet Singh on Thursday said that the new chief coach Graham Reid’s “simple and friendly approach” has brought a calming influence on the team and it is reflecting on the turf. “The coach has created a friendly environment in the team and he has kept a very simple approach. He is very open about his thought process and is approachable to each and every team member. If any player has any concerns, he is always welcoming,” Manpreet told PTI in an email interaction.

 “This has also improved the performance of the team on the pitch,” added the 26-year-old midfielder from Jalandhar, who had an impressive FIH Series Finals in Bhubaneswar. Manpreet said that the 56-year-old Reid, who replaced Harendra Singh as Indian men’s hockey team chief coach in April this year, didn’t tinker too much with their attacking style of play.

[caption id=“attachment_6359821” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Indian hockey team. Image Courtesy: Twitter @TheHockeyIndia[/caption] “The coach (Reid) has not made any significant changes since he is new to the set-up. He will be looking to make a few changes during our camp which is scheduled in July,” he said. “Right now, he wants us to continue the good work we did in this tournament (FIH Series Finals). He also wants us to improve in our attacking game and work more on creating goal scoring opportunities and penalty corners,” added Manpreet. India, led by Manpreet, lived up to their billing and thrashed South Africa 5-1 in the summit clash to win the FIH Series Finals in Bhubaneswar recently. The skipper said that the team would like to carry forward the momentum ahead of the final qualifying round for the 2020 Olympics to be held in November. “We will continue to carry forward the momentum into the next tournament. We will continue to rectify the mistakes we made in this tournament. We are currently preparing for the final qualifying round which is in November,” said Manpreet. India put up a stupendous show during the FIH Series Finals and Manpreet said there were plenty of positives to take home from the tournament. “We showed that we are capable of both attacking and defensive play. We were very sound as we did not give many scoring chances to our opponents,” he signed off.