“He’s higher than Shah Rukh Khan. He’s our actual hero,” chuckles former captain and Padma Shri Savita Punia.
Present captain Salima Tete, vice-captain Navneet Kaur and senior participant Lalremsiami Hmarzote nod in settlement. Chief coach Dutchman Sjoerd Marijne is reshaping the way forward for the Indian ladies’s hockey group and it is simply not about expertise.
Final Friday, the Indian ladies’s hockey group for the upcoming Asian Games 2026 in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, obtained a heat sendoff from the Sports activities Authority of India authorities in Bangalore.
The SAI campus has been the ‘house’ of Indian hockey for years now and the settings are simply good to maintain high-performance athletes in good area.
The Bengaluru campus wore a mini-Japan look. Ranging from fully-furnished twin-sharing containers to an elaborate Japanese menu for tea and dinner, the hockey group received a really feel of what to anticipate after they land in Japan on Tuesday.
The ladies’s group, a heady mixture of expertise and youth, is on the centre of all attraction. Can India win an Asian Games gold and safe a direct ticket to the LA 2028 Olympics?
Marijne, in his second stint as India’s chief coach, isn’t placing undue strain on the gamers.
Because the squad simply got here off the gruelling FIH World Cup marketing campaign within the Netherlands and Belgium, coaching classes have been on the lighter aspect with extra emphasis on group bonding and health drills.
The fifth end within the World Cup has been their greatest at a Hockey World Cup because the inaugural ladies’s version in 1974, after they completed fourth.
Ladies’s hockey has had a couple of “Chak de! India” moments in latest occasions and Savita, with over 300 worldwide caps, feels Marijne has made affect after returning as India coach.
“Hamara coach Shah Rukh se bahut aage hai (Our coach is way forward of Shah Rukh). We’re blessed to have him and his group that’s so energetic that it actually drives us,” stated the previous skipper.
From making gamers put on “unity bands” to giving them crystal stones that allow bonding, Marijne has launched easy issues to maintain the group collectively.
“That is actually very good. A international coach wanting us to do properly for India in itself is so motivating,” explains Savita, who provides that giving the “Gen Z gamers freedom and liberty to make errors and be taught” have had optimistic impacts.
Beating world No. 5 Germany 3-1 of their remaining match on the Wagner Stadium in Amstelveen on August 27 has rejuvenated Salima’s group that completed with two wins, three attracts – towards the Individuals’s Republic of China, Australia and England – and one defeat towards Olympic champions, the Netherlands.
This gritty present towards groups which might be ranked greater than India has now raised expectations however the coach and the senior gamers are cautious.
“There’s a massive goal to win a gold medal and qualify for LA however we’ve to win matches earlier than that,” Marijne stated. “The World Cup expertise could have taught the women how intense massive matches are. What’s the stage they must play and solely the women can really feel themselves. However India now competes with one of the best.
“We have to give attention to ourselves and the way we form up for the video games. We’re 90 per cent about ourselves and 10 per cent in regards to the opponent,” defined Marijne, including that the depth of coaching will enhance as soon as the Indian group reaches Japan.
The Asian Video games ladies’s hockey competitors normally stays restricted to China, Japan, Republic of Korea, India and Malaysia.
The two-2 draw towards China on the latest World Cup was end result for Marijne’s group. India defeated Japan 2-1 within the FIH Nations Cup in June and haven’t performed Korea in latest occasions.
On the Asian Games 2023 in Hangzhou, China received the gold beating South Korea 2-0. India received the bronze beating Japan 2-1.
