Asian Champions Trophy: PC bug bites India, Fulton says no worries

Chennai, August 5

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Head coach Craig Fulton admitted that the Indian men’s hockey team’s penalty corner conversion rate in the drawn match against Japan is concerning but assured that his side is not far away from finishing things perfectly.

India managed to score only one goal off the 15 penalty corners earned in the 1-1 draw against the reigning Asian Games champions at the Asian Champions Trophy on Friday. It was a contrasting display compared to the hosts’ convincing 7-2 triumph over China in the opener, in which six of the goals came through the PCs.

“It’s every coach’s concern if you are not converting your chances, whether corners or field goals. So, you always try to work out the ‘why’ and try to find a solution for that and combinations of players together,” Fulton said. “It’s not that we are not playing in our system. We are playing the way we want to play, we had two-three really good counters. We are one phase away from finishing the way we want to.” — PTI

We’re under no pressure: Harman

India’s forward line was guilty of wasting plenty of chances as ace drag-flicker and skipper Harmanpreet Singh emerged as the home team’s lone goal-scorer of the match. Asked if there was any pressure on him or his team to convert penalty corners into goals, Harmanpreet said: “We have no pressure. We keep trying to put and do our best. (Japan’s) defence was good. We were following the instructions that we received. So, we know what we need to do in the next tie (against Malaysia). We will try to attack the areas that gave us goals in the opening game (vs China). We would also try something new,” he signed off.