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

Indian players celebrate after winning the Asian Champions Trophy final at Chennai on Saturday. Pic/AFP

Former India captain and Hockey India president Dilip Tirkey was sweating profusely despite the air-conditioning in the VIP enclosure of the Mayor Radhakrishnan Hockey Stadium here on Saturday evening. That's because Team India were engaged in a see-saw, hour-long battle before registering a thrilling come-from-behind 4-3 victory over Malaysia in the Asian Champions Trophy final.

"It was a tense game and even I was a bit nervous. I'm glad to see our team finishing on the right side. They deserve this gold medal," Tirkey, 45, a veteran of over 400 international caps, told mid-day moments after the pulsating win.

This 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. "This team, under coach [Craig] Fulton, are playing some good hockey.

Dilip Tirkey at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Hockey Stadium, Chennai. Pic/Ashwin Ferro

The defence and midfield have shaped up well. Even in today's [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 build-ups that eventually led to goals. I believe this team are on the right path to winning a gold medal in China," said Tirkey.

Goals galore

A total of 94 goals were scored in the six-team 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. "We have a good penalty corner set-up with a world-class 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 [1-1 draw], we received over a dozen penalty corners [15], but converted just one," he specified.

Also Read: 'Our key moment from Goal 2 to Goal 3 knocked wind out of Malaysia's sails': Fulton

India's field goal tally of 12 in seven matches also did not impress the former captain. "We 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 improve," he added.

Good practice before Asiad

Finally, 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. "This 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 didn't, 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 & Co did against the Malaysians - bouncing back from 1-3 down to 4-3," he concluded.

India jump to No. 3 in FIH rankings

India 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 (2771.35 points) jumped past England (2763.50 points) to take the third rank with the Netherlands (3095.90 points) being the top-ranked team followed by Belgium (2917.87 points).