Lausanne, Switzerland (Sports Report):-Less than 24 hours before the start of the FIH Odisha Hockey Men's Junior World Cup Bhubaneswar 2021, let's hear what all head coaches have to say.
India – Graham Reid
“Every coach who comes to an event as important as the Junior World Cup likes to think that they will be there at the end of the tournament. Certainly, our objective is to make that final game. To put ourselves in that category we first need to win the first three games in our Pool. So, we will be taking each game as it comes. That’s the first objective. After that, obviously if we end up in the quarter-finals and then the semi-finals, we’ll go from there. But certainly, we aim to be there at the end.
Netherlands – Michiel van der Struijk
“We’re very happy to be here in India. We already experienced a very warm welcome at the airport, so thanks a lot for that! It’s really good that we finally can compete with the other teams in this tournament.
It’s very good for the players’ experience to play other cultures. It’s also good for their education so that they can finally join the national Men’s team, which is what they’re all looking for. Therefore, it’s also important that we learn a lot here. And of course, we want to win the tournament!
Canada – Indy Sehmbi
“We want to go and play our best hockey game. We know that we can play with every international team. It’s about getting consistent efforts from our group. At the Junior level, you don’t get as many games, so you don’t get a chance to test yourself as much, so for us here, it’s just about us going to play our best game and see how we go against some of the best teams in the world.
I think the Junior World Cup is now considered a major event on the FIH calendar. It’s huge for our young athletes. Playing in India is amazing. We love the environment. This is such a professional environment for our athletes
Poland – Jacek Adrian
“For my players and for my team, this event is a good opportunity to play with the best hockey teams in the world. Our ambition is to play good hockey. We’ll try to do our best during this tournament.
USA – Pat Harris
“Being at the Junior World Cup is obviously a huge step for USA field hockey and in particular our junior team, so we are delighted to be here. I know the boys are excited at the opportunity to develop and see what the world’s best are doing and then, hopefully, over time, we can close that gap and, in the future, compete with the top teams.
To all the fans at home just want to say thank you for the support. Without you, it would be difficult to be here, so thank you and ‘go USA.”
South Africa – Sihle Ntuli
“Firstly, we are really excited to be here and looking forward to competing. That is our objective for the tournament. The South African team’s highest finish was 10th at the last Junior World Cup so our objective is to finish in the top eight to get a quarter-final and, from there, we will take it one game at a time.
The first thing is that I am super-excited for the boys to play at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar. For me it is an experience for the players and already they are enjoying it, so it is a good two weeks in India.
Message for our fans back home is that it is really unfortunate, due to the circumstances around Covid, that they haven’t been able to travel to with us, especially the parents. But the messages on social media have been very encouraging to the boys, so keep it up and hopefully we will make you and the nation proud.”
Germany – Valentin Altenburg
“We came here to Bhubaneswar with the ambition to play successful and attractive.
Especially after these difficult two COVID years, my team and I are very thankful and even more motivated than ever before to compete against the friends from around the world. I believe every minute on the pitch in the next couple of weeks will make my team a better team. Also, getting to know this fascinating Indian culture will let my players grow as people of the world.
Pakistan – Danish Kaleem
“Due to Covid, we couldn’t expose our boys to international hockey but even in these trying circumstances, we will try our level best to perform in this event and we will try to reach the podium. The boys are very excited to play in a World Cup, it is the vision of any player to compete in this sort of tournament.
There are 16 teams competing in this event so not only will they play hockey but they will learn from watching these 16 nations.
We will play good hockey and we will try to surprise the others and we hope they will send us good wishes and that they will pray for our victory. Follow us on Watch.Hockey!”
Korea – Kim Jongyi
“We are aiming for the quarter-final – we will do our best. It is important to beat our rivals for the future of Korean hockey.
Spain – Alejandro Siri
“Our objective is to reach the first positions of the group so that we then play for the first eight positions of the tournament.
Then, we aim to go as high as we can in the competition. For our players this is a very big tournament, so they are very excited to be here.
Belgium – Jeroen Baart
“In terms of ambitions, I think it’s clear that we all want to compete with the best. Last time [in 2016] we went to the final, so all the boys have ambitions to go very far. Let’s start with the pool games and afterwards we’ll see game-by-game.
Argentina – Lucas Rey
“Our mission as a team is to have a good performance during the whole tournament. It is very important. It is the most beautiful tournament under-21 to play, so we hope they [the players] can enjoy it. Cheer for us, support us! We will try to give our best to reach the top position that we can.”
France – Aymeric Bergamo
“Our mission is to play each match to the best of our ability, and for that we need a lot of mental strength. We want our hockey team to get out of the group stages and, if we succeed, we will do everything in our power to continue.
My squad is particularly young and, for the most part, they don’t have any experience of high-level competition like this one. But the magic of playing hockey in India has been beneficial for French teams in the past, and this group wants to succeed together as a team.
We are going to do everything we can to make you [the fans] proud, to go as far as we can in this competition. Your energy is very important to us, so please continue to support us.
Chile – Alejandro Gomez
“Our ambition is to grow as a team and to make the most of this opportunity, which Chilean hockey doesn’t get so often. Our objective is to reach the highest possible position in this tournament.
Our players are enjoying being here in India, playing in this stadium which is unique. I don’t know if we’ll have another occasion to come back here, therefore our players are taking it very seriously. We haven’t come here for a walk around, we’re here to compete and we’re going to do that the best we can.
I hope our fans will continue to accompany us like they’ve done during this long process. They’ve always helped us to keep ourselves at our best level. Be it our families, friends or everyone in the country.
Malaysia – Wallace Tan
“It’s important for the players to experience playing in the FIH Hockey Junior World Cup. It’s an important tournament for the careers of young players as it will help them step up to the senior level.
Egypt – Abu-Talib Maggid
“Our objective is to give an opportunity, some exposure and also some experience to future national players, as well as preparing the team for which most of them will be eligible to play for the next Junior World Cup as well. Due to the current circumstances, I think that reaching a similar ranking as in 2014 and 2016 is a realistic objective. However, we will always fight to get a little higher, which is our ambition.
