Indian goalie says team must get over Baljit’s accident ahead of the outings in Europe.
Baljit Singh’s loss has been Adrian D’Souza’s gain. After a year-long wait to break into starting XI of the national team consistently, Adrian has finally got his opportunity. Unfortunately, it came at the cost of Baljit’s freak accident.
Adrian very well knows that it could have been him instead of Baljit in the accident that rocked the hockey fraternity last week. But as they say, injuries are a part and parcel of sports and the early you move over it, the better.
“What has happened to Balli is devastating. I had finished my round of practice and was just five feet away,” Adrian told DNA over the phone from Delhi before the team’s departure on Thursday night. “It could have been me or anyone else for that matter. But now we have to concentrate on our tour for which we have been preparing so hard.”
The 25-year-old city boy, who has more than 100 appearances for India, realises the change of his role in the team — that of grooming youngsters as well as doing his job.
“I have done this before. But this is the first time we are playing under (Jose) Brasa sir and he will be keenly observing everyone’s performance. And the World Cup is around the corner, so I don’t want goof-ups.”
Adrian will be the only goalie in the team until P Sreejesh, who replaced Baljit, joins the team a week later. Sreejesh has been attending the national team camp for nearly three years and Adrian feels the 21-year-old should cash in on this opportunity.
“He doesn’t have much match experience but that shouldn’t be a problem. He has done consistently well for the junior team and is one of the better players we have in India right now,” said Adrian, who represented India in Athens Olympics.
Terming the five weeks of training under Brasa as refreshing, he said the team has realised that they have a lot to learn.
“The best part is that we all have gone back to the basics. There are a lot of aspects that we didn’t really know about and after these five weeks, we know we have to learn a lot. So in a way, this tour will be a big learning experience for us,” said Adrian.
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