Indian women’s hockey team keen to rediscover spark of yore
V Narayan Swamy
GUANGZHOU: Bronze medallists in Doha ’06, the Indian women’s hockey players are diffidence personified as they take on Malaysia in the opening match of the round-robin league on Saturday.
Their performance having plummeted for one reason or another, and with the team courting controversies till the end of the Commonwealth Games, coach Sandeep Somesh’s girls are yet to find the spark that made them a doughty fighting outfit. Sandeep has had his share of problems, including a paucity of time to get the team up and going.
He has also been handicapped by the absence of an efficient support staff, especially a trainer – a drawback which was ruthlessly revealed during the Commonwealth Games, where India finished fifth.
The seven-team competition here provides no respite. India are in a must-win situation right from Game One as the top two teams in the league will move into the final. “We have our crunch games against Japan, Korea and China on November 16, 17 and 22. Korea and China finished sixth and eighth in Rosario,” Somesh said.
As such, the team is gunning for a bronze medal. “That would be realistic,” Somesh said. “At this point, we would be looking at minimising errors and avoiding defeats. However, sometimes even a draw can upset your calculations. A bronze would be a good result.”
Teams in fray: India, China, South Korea, Malaysia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Thailand.
Saturday’s match: India vs Malaysia, 5pm (IST)