By Admin 
Ahead of its opening match against Chile in the FIH junior men’s hockey World Cup at the SDAT-Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium here on Friday, Indian head coach P. R. Sreejesh said his team will not take the opposition lightly.
“Chile is good in attack and defence. We have to respect Chile and play well,” he said.
For Rohit, playing his final junior World Cup, will be an emotional moment. “We have been waiting for this for a long time. We are ready,” the 21-year-old captain, who was part of the the previous edition in 2023 where India finished fourth, said.
In its eighth appearance at the World Cup, Chile will hope to beat Oman or Switzerland and finish in the top-12. “The average age of our players this time is 19. It’s our dream to stay in second or maybe third place in Group (B). In the last World Cup, we finished 15th,” said the team’s head coach Matias Amoroso.
Chile had a preparatory camp in Oman where it played a couple of matches. “We were in Oman for a week playing three matches. We just had one practice match in Chennai with Bangladesh which we lost 0-3,” said Amoroso.
Chile captain Felipe Richard said playing against the home side in front of a goodly crowd will be a great experience. “Hockey is not popular in Chile but is growing. We expect a full crowd here. We will try to stay focused,” he said.