Commonwealth Game 2022: Here's why India's men's hockey team have high chances of winning gold, decodes Harmanpreet Singh

India men's hockey team vice-captain Harmanpreet Singh believes the team's performance in the tough FIH Pro League matches recently will hold the side in good stead when it begins its campaign in the Commonwealth Games at Birmingham later this month. With a little over two weeks to go for India's first match at the Commonwealth Games, the national team's preparations for the prestigious tournament are going on in full swing at the Sports Authority of India's centre here.

"Our team has been performing well. We played well in FIH Hockey Pro League as well and therefore the confidence is high within the group. We will look to keep winning matches. We will definitely try our level best to win gold at the Commonwealth Games 2022," said Harmanpreet.

Speaking about the team's preparations for the quadrennial event, Harmanpreet said, "Our preparations for the Commonwealth Games 2022 are going on very well. We are working on specific aspects of our game during our training sessions and we are focusing on the learnings from the FIH Hockey Pro League."

The defender also spoke about the specific aspects the team is currently working on.

"We are specifically working on our finishing and defending skills at the moment. Overall, we are hitting the right notes in the practice sessions. We'll just keep working hard on our game and try to keep getting better day by day as a team."

The 26-year-old also said the team has been playing practice matches during training.

"We have been playing practice matches during our training sessions. Our main team has been playing against the rest of the players in the national camp. We have played a match on each day since Monday. The practice matches have helped us improve our on-field coordination and also provided us with an opportunity to test our strategies."

Indian will take on Ghana in their first match of the Commonwealth Games on July 31.