‘We are on gold path’: Dilip Tirkey hails India's grit in thrilling 4-3 win

Former India captain and Hockey India president Dilip Tirkey was sweating profusely despite the airconditioning in the VIP enclosure of the Mayor Radhakrishnan Hockey Stadium here on Saturday evening Thatrsquos because Team India were engaged in a seesaw hourlong battle before registering a thrilling comefrombehind 43 victory over Malaysia in the Asian Champions Trophy finalldquoIt was a tense game and even I was a bit nervous Irsquom glad to see our team finishing on the right side They deserve this gold medalrdquo Tirkey 45 a veteran of over 400 international caps told midday moments after the pulsating winThis gold medal is fine but there is another gold that India have to win at the upcoming Asian Games September 23 to October 8 in Hangzhou China to earn a direct qualification for the 2024 Paris Olympics and Tirkey is convinced Team India are on the right path to achieving glory in China too ldquoThis team under coach Craig Fulton are playing some good hockeyDilip Tirkey at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Hockey Stadium Chennai PicAshwin FerroThe defence and midfield have shaped up well Even in todayrsquos Saturday final Malaysia began brilliantly and dominated the match initially but our midfielders and defence held fort in the third and fourth quarter and even created some nice buildups that eventually led to goals I believe this team are on the right path to winning a gold medal in Chinardquo said TirkeyGoals galoreA total of 94 goals were scored in the sixteam tournament across 12 days Of these 48 were field goals 43 came off penalty corners and three via penalty strokes India contributed 29 goals overall 16 of which came from penalty corners Tirkey being a penalty corner specialist himself in his heyday felt that the hosts need to do better in this department ldquoWe have a good penalty corner setup with a worldclass drag flicker in skipper Harmanpreet Singh Then there is Jugraj Singh who scored a good goal in this final Varun Kumar and Amit Rohidas All are capable but we need to convert our penalty corners consistently In the league match against Japan 11 draw we received over a dozen penalty corners 15 but converted just onerdquo he specifiedAlso Read Our key moment from Goal 2 to Goal 3 knocked wind out of Malaysiarsquos sailsrsquo FultonIndiarsquos field goal tally of 12 in seven matches also did not impress the former captain ldquoWe have some experienced forwards like Mandeep Singh and Akashdeep Singh and a lot rides on their shoulders In the final they combined beautifully to help India score the winning goal We also have some young forwards like Gurjant Singh and Sukhjeet Singh and a couple of others who are very promising But somehow we are unable to convert our scoring opportunities This is another area where we can improverdquo he addedGood practice before AsiadFinally speaking about the significance of this tournament a little over a month before the Asian Games Tirkey felt that it was good practice before the big one ldquoThis is an important tournament because it has given us valuable practice before the Asian Games We rested a few of our key players I always expected India to win this but even if they didnrsquot I would not be too worried because winning and losing is part of sport Sometimes you can draw or even lose a match to a team that are below your level or standard The important thing is working hard and bouncing back from a setback like Harmanpreet amp Co did against the Malaysiansmdashbouncing back from 13 down to 43rdquo he concludedIndia jump to No 3 in FIH rankingsIndia got a big boost ahead of the Asian Games by rising one spot to No 3 in the FIH rankings on Sunday following their Asian Champions Trophy triumph India 277135 points jumped past England 276350 points to take the third rank with the Netherlands 309590 points being the topranked team followed by Belgium 291787 points