New Delhi: India hockey team coach Michael Nobbs and captain Rajpal Singh said that moving the Champions Trophy out of India may prove to be a hindrance to the team's preparations for the London Olympic qualifiers.
"It would hinder our preparations for the Olympics," said Nobbs on Tuesday.
Rajpal also agreed that India would face problems as they would be left with only one tournament to qualify for London.
"It will be a problem for us to qualify for the London Olympics after India losing hosting rights for Champions Trophy," the captain said.
The Champions Trophy is meant for the top eight-ranked hockey nations and India's current position is ninth. If the tournament was organised in India, they would have been able to participate on account of being the host. It would have also given them a chance to qualify for the Olympics as well.
But now, with the tournament's hosting rights given to New Zealand, India's only chance of qualifying for the Olympics would be by playing in the qualifiers, to be held in New Delhi in February next year.
Nobbs, however, said that India's victory at the recently-concluded Asian Champions Trophy in Ordos, China would surely give them the confidence of making it to London.
"There are some realistic chances for us to qualify for the Olympics but it is going to be extremely tough," said the coach on the sidelines of a function organised by the Sports Ministry to felicitate the team for its outstanding show in the tournament.
India defeated arch-rivals Pakistan 4-2 via a tie-breaker in the final of the Asian Champions Trophy to clinch the title, which also assumes great significance for Nobbs as it was his first assignment with the team.
Stating that the team is on the right track, the Australian said, "We have just started. We don't know yet how we are going to perform when we face stronger teams like Australia, Germany and others but we are on the right track. Though we still have a long way to go."
He added that fitness is a major concern for the team at the moment.
"Stamina is a concern. Though fitness levels are better now but the players would still need 8-9 months more to achieve real fitness," revealed Nobbs.
Rajpal also admitted that the stamina of the players need to be improved a lot.
"At the moment, we are just 50 percent fit. Stamina needs to be worked upon rigorously," he said.
Nobbs felt that the bench strength of the team is very good and the youngsters did very well in China.
"All the players are extremely talented and there is no dearth of bench strength. All the youngsters have done extremely well. They have great enthusiasm and they gave everything they had during the tournament."
Speaking about the tie-breaker in the final, the coach said that the team had practiced for it.
"We had been practicing for it for quite some time now. We knew we would get 4-5 goals and that is what exactly happened. We trusted our instincts," he explained.
While saying that all youngsters were good, he reserved special praise for Yuvraj Walmiki and Gurbaj Singh.
"Six players were without experience but they all did very well. Yuvraj Walmiki is an outstanding player and Gurbaj is an international class player," said the coach.
Rajpal, however, begged to differ, choosing Manjit Kullu as the most promising player of the tournament.
"Yuvraj is a good talent but I think Manjit Kullu is the most promising player," said Rajpal.
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