By Diptayan Hazra
New Delhi [India], December 26 : Gonzalo Peillat, a distinguished name in international hockey ended his Argentina career with 153 caps and 176 goals, and helped Argentina secure their first men's hockey gold at Rio 2016. He represented Argentina from 2011 to 2018 before switching his allegiance to Germany in 2022, with whom he won a silver medal at the Paris 2024 Olympics shared his thoughts on the Indian team's rise.
"Yeah, as you say, I think the Indians in the last years, they were training a lot together. They were doing a lot of camps in Europe. We saw now the Indians, they were in Amsterdam in the time we were playing also there and this change, maybe also the mentality or the structure for India, having more international coaches, different points of view, more European style hockey. I think this is also a big step for them and this is something that at the end of the day, you can see the progression from India. There's no more this ping pong game that used to be. Now it's a little bit more control, more power play situations. And this is in big tournaments what you need," Peillat told ANI.
Peillat, who recently joined the Hyderabad Toofans for the Hockey India League (HIL), expressed his excitement about returning to the league after seven years.
"Of course it's really nice to be part again after seven years coming back to the league and I always enjoy the time where I played in UP Wizards and Kalinga (Lancers). That was really nice because you have a lot of experience with international players, different coaches, international Indians and this is really nice to live and now after seven years coming back I think it's going to be really exciting. A lot of people are waiting for this league and I think it's going to be a huge impact for the whole hockey," he said.
Regarding his role in mentoring young Indian players, Peillat emphasized the importance of sharing his experience.
"Yeah, I think that's the most important thing for all international players. We need to help the Indian players and almost the young players because with the rule only to play with five players at the same time on the pitch, you need to have a really good balance between the internationals and the Indians and this is a big part of the job we have to try in a short time that we have to let the Indians or the people to know how we want to play, what about the tactics and what is more successful to take risks or not and this is something that we really need to exploit in these six, seven weeks that we are there. Train with them, talk a lot with them and try to make the best out of the players to help the team at the end of the day," he said.
When asked about any particular player he is excited to share the dressing room with, Peillat mentioned, "I think we have a really nice team, I would say. In the defense, Arthur (De Sloover) is a really nice player, probably I will play a lot with him. And then Goods is also in the middle, in the midfield. So he's also quite an interesting player. And from what I talked with Pasha, our trainer, he said we have a really, really good talented Indian players. So this is also something that we are looking for. And I think we, as soon as we meet on the 21st, all together, we can finally see which are the stances of the team and how we start training for the preparation for the Hockey India League."