When India hockey team announced the 18-man squad for the Olympics qualifiers against Russia last month, there was a surprise omission – defender Birenra Lakra, who was in the 22-man preliminary squad, was left out. The defender has played over 170 games for the side and has been a regular in big matches. Considering the matches were to take place in his home ground, Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, it felt like a huge call from the Indian camp.
But an injury in the training to fellow defender Varun Kumar, saw Lakra finally getting a call-up in the squad, just two days before the first Olympic qualifying game. In the pre-match conference, India coach Graham Reid made it clear that Lakra will not find it hard to fit right back into the team.
“You guys know Birendra. He is a competitor. He is very experienced, great tackler. Very good control player. We have been training here for the last three weeks with our 22-team set up. So he will step straight in, without any problems whatsoever,” he said.
After India beat Russia 4-2 in the first match on Friday, Lakra spoke to Hindustan Times and said he was not affected after he was dropped from the original team. “I did not worry about being dropped. When I was not in the team, I was still training and practicing along with the team. We needed to pick an 18-man squad, and it is just about luck at that time, whether you make the cut or not,” he said.
The 26-year-old further added that his morale did not go down and wished for a speedy recovery for Varun. “It did not affect my morale. There were four players on standby for a possible injury situation, and I was one of them. It is our bad luck that Varun was injured, but I got a chance because of it. I hope for a quick recovery for Varun.”
Speaking on the surprising hard-fought battle against the World No. 22 side, Lakra said: “The way we prepared for the match, it did not work out. Somewhere we faltered with our basics. We would have to improve our basics in the second match.”
“In tomorrow’s match, we will be looking to play simple hockey of one-two touch, and we hope it would prove to be better for us,” he added.
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