Girls will take some time to adjust to new training regime: CR Kumar

Ritu Sejwal

NEW DELHI: CR Kumar successfully lead the Indian women’s hockey team to the finals of the Olympic qualifiers in February this year, but the girls failed to capitalize on their position against South Africa.

Kumar is now working as the assistant coach to new Chief coach Neil Hawgood from Australia. The team has undergone 6 weeks of rigorous training before leaving for the Women’s Electric Ireland Hockey Champions Challenge 1 in Dublin from September 29 to October 7.

“Neil Hawgood is a good coach. He has brought in Australian approach that requires a lot of running. We can’t expect the results to show from just six weeks of training, the girls will take some time to get accustomed to the new model,” coach Kumar said on the eve of team’s departure to Dublin.

On the level of competition, Kumar said: “The girls have worked hard in the camp and have shown improvement in fitness level. The competition will help us understand how the girls perform. Neil told us that Australia has also made some changes but we can’t take any team lightly.

“We are using a lot of youngsters and will take some tournaments to get in shape. Whatever they have learnt, it remains to be seen if they put it in matches

“Roll of every individual is different from previous stages. The girls were out of action after New Zealand and Indian’s have a tendency to get rusty after a long gap, this was one of the big challenge in front of Hawgood,” he concluded.