Hockey Coach Harendra Singh exudes confidence ahead of India's opener against Pakistan in Sultan of Johor Cup

The Indian juniors will look to continue their dominance in the Sultan of Johor Cup

Indian junior hockey team’s coach Harendra Singh believed that his team would have to re-invent itself in the 2015 Sultan of Johor Cup and must not rely on past history. NDTV reported that Singh was focused on eliminating the pressure factor before India begin their campaign by taking on arch-rivals Pakistan.

Having won the 2013 and 2014 editions of the tournament, India are the favorites to emerge champions in the invitational tournament which also includes Australia, Great Britain, Pakistan, Argentina and Malaysia. The tournament will be played in Malaysia from October 11 to 18.

The Dronacharya awardee enthused, "We are the defending champions. But in this edition, we will start fresh with new ideas. What happened in the last edition is history now and we have to perform better than other teams. Every game is important for us and we have been preparing ourselves team by team.”

Harendra Singh felt that India should employ an aggressive outlook. He said, "All the participating teams are competitive but Australia and Great Britain are quite tougher than others. We need to play an attacking game against these two teams to yield positive results. The team is confident and well prepared. We will give our best."

After a rigorous camp in which they worked on improving every aspect of their game, the Indian team is geared towards completing a hat-trick of titles. Singh asserted that the significance of the camp could be observed on his side’s performance in the upcoming tournament.

The captain Harjeet Singh also echoed his thoughts on the team. He affirmed, “We have been working hard for this tournament in the recently concluded preparation camp. The camp was productive and helped us to overcome our weaknesses in a few areas. The tournament will be exciting as there are some good teams participating.”

He called upon his team members to dispel any thoughts of pressure and was confident of the ability of the Indian team. Harjeet promised, "We are ready for our first match against Pakistan and we don't have any pressure to play against the Asian team. We will go match-by-match and tackle each team differently. Our aim is to gain maximum out of each match. If everything goes well as per our plan, then we will surely bring the trophy home for the third time."

The much awaited contest between India and Pakistan is scheduled on Sunday at 1605 IST.