Mandeep Singh says India lack one crucial prize as he prepares for fourth Hockey World Cup
Mandeep Singh and teammate Manpreet Singh will each play their fourth Hockey World Cup when India open their campaign on August 15 at the Wagener Stadium in the Netherlands, with 31-year-old Mandeep set to become the youngest Indian to reach four tournaments.
Mandeep described the milestone as a proud moment but framed it against an unmet objective from his previous appearances: “Of course, it feels great to play my fourth World Cup, a very proud moment. But it is also a reminder that there is nothing to show for the three I have already played. It’s just been participation so far... we don’t have the one thing that we so desperately want,” Mandeep told The Hindu ahead of the World Cup. For someone who has a medal from every other major competition in the sport, at every level – junior and senior Asia Cups, Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, Asian Champions Trophy and the Olympics – that missing World Cup medal remains an unfinished task.
A senior figure in the dressing room, Mandeep brings experience from 288 international matches and stresses collective responsibility rather than hierarchy: “I believe all 18 players in a team have to play; everyone is aware of their individual responsibility and team target. Everyone has to perform; a senior or junior is just a tag that doesn’t matter on the field. “You are selected because you know how to play and how to handle pressure, regardless of whether you have played 10 matches or 100 for India. What we can do is share our experiences from all these years, including what we have learnt from our seniors and pass it all to the youngsters. It helped us form a bond with our seniors, and we try to do the same during training, which makes the connections better,” he explained.
On maintaining his place, Mandeep pointed to personal discipline away from team sessions: “Most important is diet, then fitness to keep up with the youngsters. You need to take individual responsibility, go beyond the team plan and train on your own whenever possible. You have to do that to fight for your spot,” he said.
Mandeep also recounted a family prompt to complete the set of medals and set out the squad’s ambition in personal terms: “My father said the same thing when I spoke to him – you are still one short. But if this is the last chance for us, we won’t waste it and try to bring back that medal. It is a huge motivation, playing the fourth World Cup. Dhanraj sir did it, now we are going to do it. The dream now is to lift that Cup,” he insisted.
He placed the World Cup’s importance in the context of recent Olympic success and the length of India’s wait for a World Cup podium: “When we won an Olympic medal in Tokyo after 41 years and then again in Paris, we saw how it completely changed Indian hockey’s stature and again gained recognition. The wait for a World Cup medal has been longer, 51 years! So we are aware of its importance and what it would mean for the game and for the country. Which is why we are not even thinking of the Asian Games or anything else at the moment; full focus is on the World Cup,” he declared.
India begin their FIH Hockey World Cup campaign on August 15 at the Wagener Stadium in the Netherlands, where Mandeep will pursue the solitary major honour that has eluded him in his three previous World Cups.