The Indian women's hockey team scaled new heights at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in Japan. They went to the tournament as underdogs but missed out on a podium finish by a whisker after losing the third-place playoff match to Great Britain.
Since then they have won the bronze medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and bagged the Nations Cup title in 2022 by beating European heavyweights Spain by a solitary goal in the final.
In fact, they remained unbeaten en route to the final before vanquishing the Spanish armada under the leadership of Savita Punia and the guidance of coach Janneke Schopman.
Now, Punia and co. are set to embark on another continental mission, the 2023 Asian Games, which is set to be held in Hangzhou in China in September-October.
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How did the Tokyo Olympics change the mindset of the Indian team?
"Maybe it was not the same five-six years ago, and of course, the ranking mattered. We used to play under a bit of pressure and that would affect our performance," Punia told PTI.
“But, after the Olympics and after working with Janneke, the focus is only on our team and performance. We just have to follow and execute our plans against our opponents, win and loss are with every team.
“Mentally and physically, we have a different kind of energy when we play against any top teams. Earlier, ranking would play in our minds, and we used to think that we have to put in a lot of hard work.
“It’s a more an even contest now. Five to 10 years ago, if we would raid their circle three times, they would have made those 15 times. But it’s equal number these days, be it a penalty corner, shot on goal or circle entry. Team has improved a lot,” she added.
The Indian women's hockey team will tour Germany and Spain as part of their preparations for the Hangzhou Asian Games.
They will first participate in three matches in Germany, playing one against China and two against the hosts. These matches will take place from the 16th to the 19th of July 2023.
Following the Germany tour, the team will travel to Spain for the 100th Anniversary Spanish Hockey Federation-International Tournament where they will compete against South Africa, England, and the host team from the 25th to the 30th of July in Terrassa.
Having beaten Spain earlier in the Nations Cup final, Punia feels that the girls are up for the challenge.
“Spain or England are part of top teams. There is nothing to lose. We have to improve match by match. The feedback we get from the matches give us more confidence.
“Nowadays we are just focused on our team, what we can do. It does not matter who our opponents are. The change of mindset has helped a lot,” she added.
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'India will fight for gold in Hangzhou,' says Schopman
India will not play catch up in the upcoming European trip and will try to rectify the mistakes that they made while they faced Australia in the previous series Down Under.
Schopman wants her troops to play aggressive hockey and get early goals which will put pressure on their opponents.
“We were not rewarding ourselves enough in terms of creating outcomes. A big thing for us is to get to same level of defending... when we defended really well as a team in the last match. This camp will focus on getting more goals, can we have more variety in our penalty corners. That is something I’m looking to see in this tour," she said.
In 2018, India had to settle for silver in the Asian Games after they were beaten 2-1 by Japan. However, five years down the line, this is a new India that dares to dream and have the potential to knockdown any formidable opponent if they put their best foot forward.
"Actually we can show ourselves. It does not matter what other teams bring. We want to be there, the way we know we can be. I say to them all the time, I won’t guarantee that we would win the Asian Games, but what I can guarantee you is that we will try our very best and we will fight our hardest fight to get there.
“We will do it together and we will never give up. I know that they will all contribute and bring that to that game plan. That is the only thing that I try to instill in them,” Schopman assured.
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