With a spot in the Super 4 already sealed, India finished their league engagements with a 15-0 drubbing of Kazakhstan to top Pool A of the Men’s at the Rajgir Sports Complex here on Monday.
Abhishek (four goals), Jugraj Singh (three) and Sukhjeet Singh (three) led the goal-fest with hat-tricks for India’s third win in as many outings so far.
Within an otherwise busy Indian support staff camp throughout all their matches so far, one man, who has been quietly making his notes is mental conditioning coach Paddy Upton.
Paddy Upton
One of the key members of former India cricket coach Gary Kirsten’s backroom staff during the 2011 World Cup triumph, Upton has had previous stints with the hockey team leading up to the Paris Olympics before rejoining the set-up ahead of this Asia Cup.
Gearing up for bigger events
“The leadership group, [coach] and [captain] Harmanpreet Singh feel that I should work with the team before some of the big tournaments; this one, hopefully, the World Cup [in 2026] and the Olympics [2028] to help the players manage distraction,” said Upton, 56.
The Asia Cup title has the incentive of a World Cup qualification attached to it, which is perhaps why the South African professional has once again been roped in, possibly to help the players overcome the setback of their seven defeats in eight matches of the Pro League in Europe before this. “Things are just going to get better and better, but sometimes they get worse before they get better when you make some key changes. For me, having worked in a number of different sports in very professional environments, this [set-up] is incredibly professional. The coaches, the staff, the attention to detail, the strategic detail, the analysis is as good as I’ve ever seen in any sport.”
An obvious comparison Upton gets drawn into is with his stint in cricket since many members of India’s 2011 World Cup-winning team have often talked about his influence on that campaign. Commenting on that, Upton said that this Indian hockey team is at least “five leagues above” Dhoni’s outfit and has multiple Virat Kohlis in it when it comes to dedication to fitness and excellence. “If I compare the dedication to sleeping, eating, training of this team to my time in Indian cricket, these guys are another five leagues above that Indian cricket team. Virat, at his level of fitness and dedication, is unique in world cricket but here each player is as good as him. This is a team of 18 or 20 Virat Kohlis when it comes to that level of physicality,” said Upton.
Won’t lose due to fitness
Citing an example, Upton pointed out to former captain Manpreet Singh, 33. “He has an amazing understanding of his game, body, and mind. And one of the things that this team has committed to is ‘we’re not going to lose in the last quarter because somebody else is fitter than us’. [At the 2024 Paris Olympics quarter-final against Great Britain, Team India took the match into the shootout and won despite having just 10 men for a good 43 minutes when Amit Rohidas was shown the red card] That is one of the most incredible sporting events I’ve ever been part of, one of the proudest I’ve seen of how a team of 10 people fought a team of 11 against all odds and rewrote history. That’s a perfect example of what this team is capable of,” concluded Upton.