Bengaluru: The Indian men's hockey team forward Gurjant Singh feels that staying together and training in a bio-bubble for most of last year has built a natural understanding among the players and brought the team closer.
Gurjant, who has played 47 matches for the national side, said that the team has been working as a unit and it is one of the biggest reasons behind success in Europe and Argentina.
"We all have been together at the camp since one year, and I don't think any other team would have spent this much amount of time together during the lockdown. I feel that is one of the plus points that everyone has been together for such a long time,' said Gurjant, who got an opportunity to play for India on their recent tours.
'After the nationwide lockdown ended we never stopped training. We kept working hard and kept on communicating with each other throughout the time spent together. I think it has built a natural understanding among us and because of that, the team has been working as a unit. So yeah, that's one of the biggest reasons behind our successful tours to Europe and Argentina,' he added.
The 26-year-old striker also said that team had that hunger to perform well against Argentina.
"We all had that hunger to perform, to put in all our preparations at test, especially against a quality side like Argentina. So yeah, we were really excited to be back. We were in a fresh frame of mind, and I feel that really helped us in gaining momentum on the tours,' he added.
The Amritsar-born player feels that the experience of the recent tours will help the World No 5 side compete against strong teams at the Olympics.
"It's a plus point that we got a chance to play against Germany, Great Britain and Argentina at this crucial juncture. We not only got to know about our strengths and weaknesses but also about theirs. We got to know about their style of play. Hence, I feel this experience will really help us compete against them at the Olympics," said Gurjant.
The striker, who is currently training with the men's senior core group at the Sports Authority of India (SAI), Centre in Bangalore, mentioned that the team is currently working on their physical strength.
"We are currently working on our physical strength. We are making ourselves physically strong and getting used to the hot weather conditions. Since it will be the Summer season in Japan during the Olympics, we are getting used to the heat.
So, we are taking advantage of our current weather conditions. Moreover, as we get closer to the Olympics, we will shift our focus to the technical aspects of the game," said Gurjant.
Speaking about the preparations for the Olympics, Gurjant said, "We are really in a fresh frame of mind, and we have been working hard together."
"It's the dream of every athlete to represent his or her nation at the Olympics. And, it is the biggest and only reason why every one of us is here. We are lucky enough that we are getting a proper setting here (at the camp) to train and prepare ourselves for the Olympics," he concluded.
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