S2H Team

A podium finish at the Olympics, Indian hockey’s great big dream, has an excellent chance of coming true following spirited displays after the international calendar resumed, going by captains of the men’s and women’s teams Rani Rampal and Manpreet Singh.

The Covid-19 pandemic ravaged schedules in the last year but the Indian teams have trained hard at the SAI Centre, Bengaluru. Undeterred by quarantine for long spells of time, the players focused on fitness and technique through the long months as Covid continued to stifle the world.

The women’s team have steadily improved with every outing. Rani and her girls sealed an Olympic spot in 2019 and it meant the first instance of India’s women playing in successive Olympics.

The team built on lessons learned at Rio 2016. The learning curve has been steep but all along chief coach Sjoerd Marijne’s team have showed grit and gumption while challenging the likes of Argentina and Germany, fighting tooth-and-nail all the way.

Although a win eluded them, tours of Argentina, World No. 2, and European heavyweights Germany drew spirited performances from the Indian women. Significantly, Germany are in Pool A along with India at the postponed Tokyo Olympics in July-August. Great Britain, Ireland, Netherlands and South Africa complete the pool.

“I am happy with the fight our team showed against Argentina and Germany earlier this year,” Rani said. “Of course, we’re disappointed to have not registered a win, but we have showed that we could hold our own against higher-ranked opponents.

Indian women’s hockey captain Rani Rampal

“ Since coming back from Germany, we have been working hard on our finishing and our technique. I feel we have come a long way from a tactical standpoint. I’m confident that once we convert these good performances into results, we will be in the mix for an Olympic medal too.”

On form, the men’s team led by Manpreet Singh is the team to watch. The squad shows a fine balance of youth and experience and have gone from strength to strength from the FIH Pro League which ground to a Covid-induced halt in February last year.

The men in blue emerged unbeaten against the Olympic champions in two practice matches and the double headers in the league from which they collected five points from a possible six over the weekend, going down 0-1 in the third practice game which ended their unbeaten run that started with four practice matches on the European tour against Germany and Great Britain.

Chief coach Graham Reid’s methods have galvanized the team and the ensuing solidity turned on the heat against World champions Belgium, Australia and Netherlands in the FIH Pro League last year.

India are in Pool A at the Olympics and have for company hosts Japan, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand and Spain.

“Firstly, it was good to be back playing international hockey after a long time,” said Manpreet. “I’m very happy with the progress of the team over the last 18 months. If we continue to build on this, I am sure we can defeat any team. The team spirit is high right now and as I said before, we should use every opportunity we get before the Tokyo Olympics to fine-tune our game. The youngsters in the team have come a long way. I’m hoping this form continues and we put a much better display than what we’d managed in the Rio Olympics,” the India captain added.