Extremely happy with the way I have started my international hockey career, says Rajkumar

Bengaluru [India], May 7 (ANI): The Indian men's hockey team midfielder Rajkumar Pal, who made his debut for the Indian senior team against Belgium last year, expressed that he is very happy with the way he has started his international career.

"The way you start anything is very crucial and therefore I really wanted to get off to a good start in my international career. It was a dream come true for me when I got the chance to walk on the field with the Indian team for the match against Belgium in the FIH Hockey Pro League last year and I am really happy with the way things have panned out for me so far.

"Then the two goals I scored against Australia in the FIH Hockey Pro League gave me a lot of confidence and I have just looked to carry forward the momentum from thereon," said the midfielder.

Rajkumar added that he is looking forward to making many more contributions to the Indian team's victories in the future.

"It felt great to contribute to the team's victory with a goal against Argentina in our first match of the tour last month. My main objective is to help the team win in any way I can, and I was happy with the way I performed on our recent tour of Argentina. Even though I haven't played too many matches for the Indian senior team, I have already started to feel very comfortable at the highest level. I am looking forward to contributing to many more victories for the Indian team in the future," said the 23-year-old.

When asked about his goals for the future, Rajkumar said that an Olympic gold medal is the biggest dream for any athlete.

"An Olympic Gold is the ultimate goal for all of us and we have been putting in tremendous amount of hard work to achieve our target in this year's Olympics. I would like to thank Hockey India and SAI for providing a safe and secure environment for our training for the Olympics in the toughest of times. Without their help and guidance, we wouldn't be in a position to practice for the biggest prize in sport," he said. (ANI)