Members of the Indian team which won the Junior Hockey World Cup in Hobart, Tasmania, 12 years ago are hoping the current squad, gearing up for the upcoming edition in Delhi in December, emulates their feat.
"The biggest plus point of our team was our excellent team work and team spirit, which is very important in a long tournament like the World Cup. We never gave up even in the face of adversity, just hung on," said ex-India skipper Viren Rasquinha, who was a member of the 2001 Cup-winning team.
"The current team is very good and is training and preparing well. Gregg Clark (junior national coach) knows modern day hockey very well and he has got very good support in the form of Baljit Saini," the former half back said.
Rasquinha, who was honoured here today along with six other members of the 2001 squad by the Mumbai Hockey Association Ltd, remembered how the team came back, after being down in the dumps in two games, against top opponents - The Netherlands and Germany.
India came back from 2-3 down in the last five minutes to edge past Holland in what was a virtual quarter-final and then defeated a very strong German outfit, which later went on to win the senior World Cup, 3-2 in the semi-finals.
In the final, India outclassed Argentina 6-1 to create history. Rasquinha pointed out that 13 members of that squad went on to play for the senior India team.
Rasquinha recalled the cold, damp and windy conditions in Tasmania that the team had to battle against.
