While Kaushik was talking about motivating the team and how the team has been looking at things positively, manager MS Balasubramanian sitting next to him had a great quip. ``The team souvenir book brought out by Malaysia says their target for hockey is to get a bronze. We hope it stays that way,'' he said smiling. The meaning: India should beat Malaysia and get into the final, while the hosts await the losers from the Australia-England match to fight for the bronze.

This is India's best chance of bagging a gold medal. India has not won the World Cup since 1975, or the Olympics since 1980 or the Asian Games since1966.

With many teams going in for an overhauling -- all coaches spoke of new look teams -- in preparation for Sydney Olympics, India has some very experienced players. Dhanraj Pillay and Mukesh Kumar, who were criticised by the last coach Vasudevan Baskaran, who is here as a columnist for an agency, have sprung into action and have displayed great form in the last match. Also Baljit Singh Dhillon, and both he and Pillay have scored five goals each.

Their prodigality, however, is still deplorable. Paul Lissek pointed that out and Kaushik agreed that Indians have this tendency of holding onto the ball too long. If everybody agrees on skill of the Indians, the same people will also agree on Indians' lack of fitness.

Malaysia at home are not easy customers. They make it difficult for the best in the world. They drew one Test against Australia and lost two narrowly thereafter. They had Germany, though not a full side, struggling. And here, in these Games, they drew with Pakistan and England. Malaysia andEngland were the only unbeaten sides in the league stage. They have a tight defence and tenacity few can match. Add to that psychological boost, the advantage of playing at home in humid weather and with 12,000 fans screaming ``Malaysia Boleh'' (Malaysia can do it), which is the slogan of the Games for the locals.

Kaushik sees crowd support as a big plus for the hosts, but then India's record in Malaysia is something that not many teams can boast of -- eight wins in 10 matches and just one loss. And this is the city that gave Indian hockey one of its finest moments since the Olympic gold in 1964, when they won the World Cup in 1975 at Kuala Lumpur. And what's more, they beat Malaysia in the semis enroute and the win came through one of the best remembered goals in Indian hockey, the penalty corner conversion by Aslam Sher Khan, who later wrote the book To hell with hockey.

Australia-England: Australian Barry Dancer is the coach of England and he, like Australian Terry Walsh, is a manwho hates giving an inch. He has built England into a fighting outfit and they have had good results in recent months.

But Walsh, who spent three years in Malaysia, is also a tough man. A brilliant player himself and now a great tactician, he knows he has a very big task on hand, that of disproving the general belief that Australia are chokers in big games. In fact a good part of today's press meeting was devoted to answering that. He has changed and chopped a lot of players, brought in new faces and his target he says is 2000 Olympics. But he needs a win here to make that as a stepping stone.

INDIA- MALAYSIAN: HEAD TO HEAD

In 32 matches, India have won 25 times, drawn four and lost three.

In Malaysia, India has played 10 times for eight victories, one draw and a loss.

LAST WIN FOR INDIA: India beat Malaysia 5-1 in November 1996 in the Chief Ministers' Cup in Madras.

LAST WIN FOR MALAYSIA: Malaysia beat India 3-2 in the pre-World Cup qualifier in Auckland, New Zealand in1991.

MAHARAJ KISHEN KAUSHIK ON INDIA-MALAYSIA MATCH: Yesterday (against New Zealand) our defence played well and goalkeeper, Subbaiah, who has not had a good tournament, also played well against New Zealand.

I know our forwards have missed too many chances, but we have talked about it and worked out a strategy

After the first few matches, now Dhanraj Pillay and Mukesh Kumar are in good form.

Malaysia has got a new look and have a good team. Paul (Lissek) has worked on them very well.

PAUL LISSEK ON MALAYSIA-INDIA MATCH: I did not expect to be here (semis). We've achieved a major target of qualifying for the semi-finals.

We (will) try not to play the Indian style. I am a lover of Asian hockey, but they (India) have the best individual skills. When India starts playing as a team then it would be difficult to beat them.

Indian forwards tend to hold the ball little too long than necessary.