India eye Asian Games hockey gold

KARACHI India has not lost hope even after their 8-0 drubbing against world champions Australia in the Commonwealth Games hockey final in front of the home crowd and have set gold medal as the target for Asian Games. Former Olympic and Asian champions who finished 5th in the last Asian Games at Doha, are is aiming to clinch gold in China against a field that includes its arch hockey rival Pakistan and the current Asian Games gold medallist South Korea and silver medallist China. Indian coach Harendra Singh is reported to have told India media: We are looking for nothing less than gold. It will help us qualify for the London Olympics. The winner will qualify straight for 2012 Olympics if it wins at Guangzhou. In the meantime Indian hockey officials had told the members of the team that finished second at New Delhi not to take their places in Asian squad for granted. The 16-member squad has been asked to assemble in New Delhi on Tuesday for a short camp before leaving for the Asian Games. Much like in the Commonwealth Games India will go into the Asian Games with only one goalkeeper as it would give them more options to rotate their field players.

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