We are improving: Indian coach
Posted by SRINU GUNTURU | | Posted On Sunday, September 20, 2009 at 4:35 PM
Despite conceding all the matches so far in the championship, India’s Prashanti Singh exuded confidence of upstaging Japan and Thailand to prolong India’s sojourn in the premier league of the Asian cart. Echoing her, assistant coach Dinesh Mitchell maintained that India have improved by every match.
India’s strategy, said Mitchell after the 107-49 defeat, was to defend stodgily and prevent China from running away with a big lead.“They are good shooters, so we planned to defend solidly and make use of our speed on counter-attacks. But sometimes against big opponents, you get intimidated and lose your focus. It’s not possible overnight to gain experience and beat teams such as USA, Spain, China or Korea. We gave our 100 percent,” said Mitchell, who was rather skeptical of Shiba Maggon recovering from injury in time for the next match. Also, he argued that India have improved ever since he had taken over the reins as the assistant coach and was optimistic of India beating Japanand Thailand.“If I compare the team it was when I came and the team it is now, they are at two different ends. They are picking up steadily but they can do much better. I have seen them playing against Korea, Chinese Taipei, the match we almost won, and against China. So I have good feeling we could beat Thailand and Japan.”Again, salt was rubbed into India’s lack of international exposure. Pointed out Prashanti, “The Chinese and Koreans started playing practice matches by the time we started our camps, apart from their professional leagues. We played hard today and personally my shooting is better than before. Our performance is getting better and we can beat Thailand and Japan.”Chinese coach Sun Fengwu, satisfied with his side’s performance, said his team would carry forth the tempo to the semifinal and the final. “It was an improved Indian team. But we played excellent basketball. We have done everything well so far, and the key is to carry the momentum to the semifinal and final,” he said.
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