We can throw up a surprise in Olympics: SV Sunil

By Paritosh Pramanik
NAGPUR, May 9

INDIA have failed to register even a single win at the four-nation Olympic Test event in London but Somwarpet Vittalacharya Sunil is confident of the team throwing up a big surprise when the actual tournament begins.
Back in India after getting a feel of the new ‘Blue Monster’ turf, the goal machine of Indian hockey said the team was doing well at the top level and would perform much better in Olympics.
“At present we are standing at 85 per cent (fitness and performance wise) for Olympics. I promise a surprise to our hockey lovers (when the London Games begin in July end). I am confident that we will do something different this Olympics,” Sunil said while talking exclusively to ‘The Hitavada’ from Mumbai.
The Indian team played on the new blue turf for the first time in London and Sunil said it was a great experience while playing on the new turf.
“It was a great experience. The turf is totally different from the green turf.”
The Coorg striker said the turf was bumpy but the team did well despite playing on it for the first time.
“I think the blue turf is bumpy. At times we had difficulty in stopping the ball. The ball runs fast if played on one side and the speed reduces when played on the opposite. It breaks the momentum and flow of our moves but we will have to adjust to it. That’s all we can do. But I will give a big thumbs up to the blue turf,” explained Sunil, who had to miss 2010 World Cup due to a major injury in his right knee.
Sunil, who was instrumental in India’s qualification for London Olympics at the New Delhi qualifiers, felt that India should have started practicing on the blue turf much before like other countries. Germany, Australia, Britain are practicing on the new turf since last six months.
“The reason we lost is we were playing for the first time on the new blue turf. Had we started playing earlier the story would have been different,” said Sunil.
The forward said the four-nation test event helped the team a lot and they would iron out flaws while preparing for Olympics.
“We have to improve our scoring. The forwards need to convert more chances. In all the matches we got ample of chances but we didn’t utilise it. Had we converted them, who knows, we would have finished at the top,” said Sunil.
Sunil said the same bunch of players would go for Sultan Azlan Shah Tournament, starting from May 24.
Great Britain, Korea, New Zealand, Pakistan, Argentina are participating in the tournament apart from hosts Malaysia.
“It will be a great build up for Olympics as some of the countries which are in our group in Olympics are also participating. Above all, the tournament will be played again on blue turf. That will help us a lot,” Sunil signed off.