Gold medal favourites Belgium worry they might have misplaced a number of the benefit they held over their opponents for the Olympic guys’s hockey identify after the postponement of the Tokyo Games and the radical coronavirus-brought about sporting hiatus.
Coach Shane McLeod, who led Belgium to silver in Rio de Janeiro 4 years in the past after which a World Cup identify in 2018, believes the playing subject is now level once more with the Games postponed by way of a 12 months. But he insists it best served to heighten the task for him and his players.
“I became very satisfied with how we had been going,” he said, with Belgium having secured qualification by triumphing ultimate yr’s EuroHockey Nations Championship at the same time as their competitors had to play some other qualifying event with a purpose to ebook a berth to Japan.
“We bought ourselves 8 weeks that other nations did not have, so whilst we were operating on character factors of our game, other nations have been nevertheless desiring to qualify.
“I assume we had a bit of a headstart and you saw that within the Pro League games we performed earlier this 12 months.”
Belgium were topping the desk after six suits of the brand new-appearance nine-state spherical-robin competition that extends over a two-yr period and pits hockey’s pinnacle aspects in opposition to each different in regular competition.
“I’m a chunk upset we weren’t able to just hold on going, especially due to the effects we were reaching,” the fifty one-12 months-old New Zealand-born McLeod added in an interview with Reuters.
“Now we ought to recreate that performance hole, however it will be a fresh mission.”
McLeod, who has labored in diverse capacities in Belgian hockey over the past two many years, had planned a 12-month sabbatical after this year’s Games but has put that on preserve to stay with the crew as they readjust plans for next 12 months.
He said the lockdown because of the Covid-19 pandemic had supplied new demanding situations which had validated “stimulating”.
“Just looking to determine out how can we try this; what will be the first-rate viable outcome for us has been quite a riding thing,” he stated.
“We’ve spent a variety of time operating out how we best prepare for the Olympics in those cutting-edge instances and plenty greater distinctive conversations with our sports activities science colleagues.
“Normally we have a method that we reproduce, maybe great track a bit, however that is definitely exclusive and now had been advert-libbing in regions where we’ve got never been earlier than but seeing a few effective outcomes.
“All the nations have pressed the ‘reset’ button now and must start from scratch once more, however I assume we are going to be OK,” McLeod brought.
Olympic postponement sees world champions Belgium lose advantage
