s2h Team

As India women’s team began its Tokyo journey, coach Sjoerd Marijne kept a ‘movie’ handy for tense moments. When India went down in the first three games, he showed this ‘movie’ to the girls for motivation. Just before India played Australia in the quarters, parts of the movie were shown to the girls again.

“That movie helped us. We had lost against higher ranked teams. It is not easy to face a loss. We played well against the Netherlands but still lost. Sometimes, you feel bad. But the movie motivated us. We were not thinking about the results, rather just kept our focus on the 60mins. That movie gave us belief we could do it,” says Rani, adding that she doesn’t know the name.

Coach Marijne wouldn’t reveal the name either. “Wait till the end of the year. Wait for my book. You will get to know,” he says.

India women’s team inked history when it stunned World no 2 Australia with a 1-0 win in the quarterfinals. The Aussies were clear favourites and India, which was closest to the medal since the 1980 Olympics, moved a step further to the semifinals.

“In the halftime when we were 1-0 up, we kept telling each other to play attacking hockey but keep the defence together. It is not easy to defend one goal against a team like Australia. But our defence was good. I am so proud of my team,” says skipper Rani.

India’s lone goal was scored by Gurjit Kaur, the drag flick specialist in the team, who so far, didn’t have a good run in Tokyo.

“I am so happy for Gurjit. I was worried that she would get a lot of comments if she didn’t score. I kept telling her that she needs one goal in one match to make a difference. It happened,” says the coach.

The win and performance is arguably the best moment for Indian women’s hockey so far. The team has made three Olympics appearances so far (including Tokyo) and finished at the bottom in the last Rio Olympics.

“The difference between then and now is the belief. Girls have changed and they believe you can dream about these things. Then go back to reality and do it. I think that is how we have made it so far,” says Marijne.

“Rani told me before the match that we are comfortable playing against Australia. We like to play against them, but they don’t like to play against us. That gave me confidence.”

For now, he wants the team to enjoy the moment and not stress about any other things.

“For the last four and half years, we have worked hard for every moment. Our coaches have played a big role. We have always tried to stick to their plan and it has worked. We believed in ourselves. The journey was not easy but it was worth it,” Rani sums up.