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Hailing from Punjab, Krishan Pathak will be representing India at the Asian Games 2023 as a goalkeeper for the men's hockey team. This marks the player's second appearance at the Asiad.
Krishan was a part of the Indian men's team that won bronze in 2018 in Jakarta, and the goalkeeper has a hundred and three international caps to brag about. Speaking of qualifying for two consecutive Asian Games, Pathak had gratitude at the forefront of his mind.
"It is definitely a proud moment for me and my family. If I look back on my journey, I never imagined that I would get the opportunity to earn more than 100 international caps for India and play my second Asian Games. It is something I will cherish for a lifetime. We will take it match by match and will not take any team for granted. We cannot let our guard down at any given time.”
In Hangzhou, the Pathak will act as backup for goalkeeper PR Sreejesh, who has played over 300 international matches. Speaking of his bond with Sreejesh, Pathak has nothing but praise.
“We have an excellent bonding between us. He is one of the senior players in the team and whenever I am in doubt, I just go up to him and seek his advice on the matter. His experience of playing over the last two decades surely helped me a lot.”
Krishan Pathak on his training ahead of the Asian Games 2023
The run up to the Asian Games in Hangzhou has been great for India. The team won the recently held Asian Champions Trophy, and Pathak was a part of the winning squad. The ACT win was important for India, and Krishan certainly agreed.
"We have a good run of games in the lead-up to the 19th Asian Games Hangzhou 2022. We played against some top sides, so that will definitely help us in identifying what are our strong and weak points. The players will also get confidence from a good outing that they have had in the Hero Asian Champions Trophy Chennai 2023. We don’t want to repeat the mistakes going forward,” he said of his experience playing in Chennai.
According to Pathak, the Indian men's hockey team is working hard to ensure they're at their best when playing in Hangzhou. Describing the team's schedule for the day, the goalkeeper said:
"The training has been going well. All of the players are working hard to prepare for the big tournament. On the practice pitch, we work out every day. Aside from that, we've had 4-5 goalkeeping sessions with Dennis, and there will be a few more in the coming days."
"We've gone over the basics again, focusing on the mistakes we made in previous tournaments and how to improve quick decision-making, among other things. Before coming to the camp, Dennis asked us what problems we were having and how we could work together to solve them," he added.
Going into the Asian Games, India is certainly in the running for gold. Not only is a medal at the Asiad itself of massive significance, but the winners in Hangzhou will book themselves an assured berth at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
