(From left) Baljit Singh Saini, Kanwalpreet Singh and Devesh Chauhan after arriving in New Delhi from Spain early on Monday. (PTI)

New Delhi: Indian hockey coach Rajinder Singh is a happy man after India’s qualification for the Athens Olympics, but he admits the team needs to improve its performance by a few notches to finish in the medal bracket in Athens.

“It was overall a good performance in Madrid. But we still have certain grey areas which we need to work upon. Goalkeeping needs to improve and we should regularly convert penalty corners. The defence has to tighten up,” he said after the team’s arrival from Madrid on Monday.

India’s fourth-place finish in the 12-nation meet earned them a place in the Athens Olympics. The coach said the next few months would be crucial in preparing the team for the big event.

“The next four to five months are going to be very important. We would be working on our weaknesses and go to the Olympics even stronger,” Rajinder said.

He said India played under tremendous pressure in the qualifiers which affected performance. “We were under some pressure as we were there to qualify for the Olympics. It was really hard playing against certain teams who put in all their effort to qualify for the Olympics. It was as if they were not playing in the qualifiers but in the Olympics,” he said.

“After we qualified, we played better hockey.”

Gagan Ajit Singh said things would be completely different when India play in the Olympics.

“In the qualifiers, several teams went into the shell and it was very difficult to break their defence. On the other hand, there would not be much pressure in the Olympics since all the teams in the fray would be playing open game,” said Gagan Ajit, who scored six goals in Madrid, including three in two matches against Pakistan.

The striker also said india failed to combine well in the tournament. “But hopefully the combinations would work well in Athens as the players got valuable experience in Madrid.”

Veteran forward Baljit Singh Dhillon said weather also played a part in the competition as Asian teams struggled initially to come to terms with the low temperature. “It was very, very cold in Madrid and that had some effect on our performance in the initial part of the tournament. It was reflected in our game in the first match against Belgium which ended in a 1-1 draw,” he said.

Pakistan, Holland, Spain, Great Britain, New Zealand and South Africa also qualified for the Olympics. They would be joined in Athens by five continental winners — Australia, Korea, Egypt, Germany and Argentina.

Before the Olympics, India have one more international assignment — a four-nation tournament in Australia.

The event, scheduled to be played in the second week of April, will see India, Pakistan, Argentina and the hosts vying for top honours. (PTI)