BETTER DAYS TO COME FOR WOMEN’S TEAM SAYS KUMAR

By Tushar Bhaduri in New Delhi

INDIA finished seventh at the recent Champions Challenge- I, but the coaching staff with the women’s hockey team is not too disheartened and feels there will be better results in the future.

The squad returned in the early hours of Tuesday after defeating Wales 4- 0 in the playoff for the seventh place. Coach CR Kumar, who was at the helm before Australian Neil Hawgood took charge in July, said the players are still coming to terms with the new coaching system in place.

“ Hawgood and ( exercise physiologist) Ben Dascombe had been in charge for only seven or eight weeks before we went to Ireland. There was a new training structure and different roles for each player. It takes some time to adjust,” Kumar told M AIL T ODAY . “ We have achieved 50 to 60 per cent of what we had set out to do. Any significant change or improvement takes two years.

The competition at the Champions Challenge- I was tough as five of the teams took part at the London Olympics. We were missing some experienced players as well. Rani Rampal and Asunta Lakra were injured while Mukta Barla and Subhadra Pradhan did not report at the camp.” India had finished seventh in the last edition of the event as well, when Kumar was chief coach. Kumar claimed that despite India’s placing at the tournament not changing, the team has improved considerably.“ Apart from a big loss against Australia ( 1- 8), we were very competitive in the other matches. In that match as well, we were tied 1- 1 before a yellow card put us at a numerical disadvantage and the Aussies scored two goals during that period,” Kumar said.

In other matches, India beat Wales 3- 0 and lost 2- 3 to Belgium after conceding two late goals. Against Scotland in the quarter- finals, India went down in a tie- breaker. In the first playoff match against South Africa, India went down to a golden goal.

The players will now be busy with the Senior Nationals in Bhopal from October 14- 23.