Hockey India launched its logo in a grand way in the Capital. Espnstar.com’s Chandraboli Mitra reports.

Amidst all the hullabaloo about India goalkeeper Baljit Singh suffering a major injury on his right eye during the team's training camp in Pune, and the team's late arrival in the capital due to mismanagement, on its way to Europe for the four-nation European Test series, Hockey India successfully managed to launch its new logo at a grand function in New Delhi on Thursday.

As the Indian chief coach Jose Brasa and coach Harendra Singh said at the occasion, "We can't afford to get disturbed by all these crisis before a crucial series and focus on our tour to Europe."

The new Indian hockey logo that has been designed with a fresh approach that mixes India's rich cultural heritage with a clean and contemporary presentation was unveiled in the Capital with the whole of the Indian team present to grace the occasion, just before their departure for the 25-day European tour.

The 22-member Indian hockey squad and the coaches, who came to Delhi from Pune to participate in the function, will start their campaign on July 27 against England and will play 12 matches before coming back to Pune on August 18.

Indian team is scheduled to play 12 matches in England (4), Belgium (3), Spain (3) and Holland (2).

Chief coach Brasa, who is looking at the tour as a learning experience, expressed confidence that the team would get valuable experience, and that will help them improve their game and bring good results during the next year's World Cup, Asian Games and Commonwealth games.

"It's time for the players to learn the tricks on how to counter the European teams and match their techniques, so that they can challenge them in the bigger tournaments in the future," said Brasa.

Under the leadership of Sandeep Singh, Indian team is also looking forward to this tour to gain some experience.

As Sandeep pointed out, "This tour will have a good effect on our team's progress and will help us identify the areas where we need improvement and will enable us to focus on our target, which is the upcoming World Cup in 2009."

India not only lack the best of techniques and support but are also without some of their key players in Baljit Singh and senior player Dilip Tirkey during the tour.

But with the kind of approach Brasa has adopted and confidence he is showing in players, it seems that Indian hockey is on the right track. Besides, even the new Hockey India logo promises to bring in a new dawn.