Triple Olympian and one of the most feared right-wingers of yesteryears, Nandnuri Mukesh Kumar, hailed India hockey team on winning gold in the Asian Games by beating Pakistan in the final in Incheon on Thursday.
Mukesh, who was himself a member of the Indian team the last time India won a gold in the 1998 Asian Games, attributed today's "magnificent win to the brilliance of goalkeeper P. R. Sreejesh. "He was truly outstanding and reminded us of the equally amazing show by goalkeeper Ashish Ballal when we we won the gold in 1998. This is a tuly fantastic achievement," Mukesh commented.
But, the former India captain also cautioned the Indian think-tank to look at the long-term planning as the forwardline needs to show greater enterprise and dash upfront. "The best part is we qualified for 2016 Rio Olympics. This is great news. With the kind of showing in Incheon, it will not be enough when you look at winning a medal in the 2016 Olympics. We need too improve a lot in this front," he explained.
'Let us now only look forward from this magnificent victory which could not have come at a more appropriate moment. A badly needed gold which should give the Indian hockey a major fillip," Mukesh concluded.
