Manpreet hails team effort

India captain Manpreet Singh believes they have established their supremacy in Asian hockey by regaining the Asian Cup title after 10 years due to a collective effort. The Indians, who previously won the title in 2003 and 2007, ended the campaign with six wins and a draw.

"We really feel so happy right now because we won it after 10 years," Manpreet said at the post-match press conference after beating Malaysia in 2-1 in the final.

"It's a great honour for me to be the captain of the national team. We played our best team and that's why we won because we believe hockey is a team game. We are a family and we have really enjoyed it," said the 25-year-old skipper, who dedicated the trophy to his team members and birthday boy Satbir Singh.

Although India handed Malaysia a 6-2 defeat in the Super 4s, they endured a tough time against the Malaysians last night. They had also conceded a 3-2 defeat to the Malaysians in the Hockey World League Semifinal in England in June, which is why India coach Sjoerd Marijne was a bit tense when Malaysia pulled one goal back in the fourth quarter.

"I was a little bit worried because a strange goal can happen in the last four or five minutes. I don't know how they [India] were going to react to that situation because I am new with this team. However, I am really happy that they changed the way we defended which was a really good decision," said the Dutchman.

Marijne also said his charges lost concentration after taking a 2-0 lead, but regrouped to survive some scares in the final quarter.

"I think the buildup into the game was really good. We went 2-0 up, but then the concentration levels went down, the energy levels went down and we gave them opportunities. Besides, we had a lot of opportunities to score the third goal. In the fourth quarter they [Malaysia] got only one chance and they made it," the Dutchman said.

Marijne's counterpart Stephen Van Huizen was disappointed not to win the title after making it to the final for the first time. The Malaysia coach is hopeful his side will play better in future with the lessons from this tournament.

"Disappointment is that we started very well but conceded one goal and then we changed the game. I think we had a chance to tie the match and take the match into shootouts. We were playing a final after a long time since the Asia Games final [in 2010]. Many players were playing the final for the first time, so they couldn't manage the situation on the big occasion," explained Van Huizen.