"We are moving in right direction," say India's hockey captains

NEW DELHI: The Indian men and women's hockey teams which reported for the National Coaching Camp on Monday, remembered the great hockey wizard Major Dhyan Chand on the occasion of National Sports Day which is celebrated to commemorate the birth anniversary of the legendary hockey player. Wishing everyone on the occasion, Manpreet Singh, Captain of the Indian Men's Hockey Team said: "The National Sports Day is a great occasion to remind ourselves of the importance of leading a healthy life. Lately, with the achievements at the world level in sports across various disciplines, children are encouraged to take up an active lifestyle and are willing to commit to competitive sports. We must nurture a good sports culture in the country and I feel with events like Khelo India Youth Games being organised regularly, we are moving in the right direction."

The Indian men's hockey team, which won a silver medal in the recently held Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, will now start preparing for the upcoming season of FIH Hockey Pro League 2022/23 with India playing the first phase of their home matches in October and November this year. Speaking about the team's next target, Manpreet said, "We will introspect and analyse in-detail our performance at the Commonwealth Games. While there were some good takeaways, there is a lot more that we need to do in order to perform under pressure and that will be our focus as we prepare for our next assignments."

Meanwhile, Savita, who led the Indian Women's Hockey Team to a historic Bronze medal at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, expressed, "I wish everyone on the occasion of National Sports Day. I am overwhelmed to see more and more young women take up sports to make a career out of it." "Over the past week, when I was back home in Haryana, I did not see an empty playground. Children were playing some sport or the other and that is very encouraging. I feel with the country bagging several medals in events like the Olympics, and Commonwealth Games among others, more children are inspired to take up an active lifestyle," she added.