The music is over. The fun has died down. Whichever way you want to frame it, the absence of the Indian women’s hockey team in the 2024 Paris Olympics is a big blow for the sport. They created quite a din at the Tokyo Olympics even if there was no shiny metal around their necks. The fourth-place finish was weighed in gold. The players became celebrities, but what resonated were the stories they had. Young players saw Rani Rampal and Savita Punia, and thought, ‘This could be us.’ On a foggy night in Ranchi on Friday, Savita’s tears told its own story. If Tokyo was a feverish dream, what happened at Ranchi was nothing short of a nightmare.
They had momentum for a few years. Hockey India (HI) was even forced to care about the sport as they bid for and hosted women’s events—something they had failed to do for almost a decade—apart from getting them to play in the Pro League, one of the sport’s top events. A regime change brought in a former Olympian as the head. But the transition after the departure of head coach Sjoerd Marijne just after Tokyo in 2021 did not quite work. The team regressed despite former players being a part of the administration and the Sports Authority of India funding the sport. The sport seemed to have veered off course. Now this is the biggest setback before the Olympics.
Will HI turn its back on the women’s game now that they do not have a story to sell? Will they sack coach Janneke Schopman, whose expertise and management skills are highly valued within the team? Will there be a women’s version of the upcoming Hockey India League? Only time will tell. In the immediate future, the women’s team could do with an infusion of some new blood. HI could introspect about its functioning, too. Some of the players are not without potential, but they need to cast a wider net ahead of the next World Cup, Asian Games and Commonwealth Games, all of which will be held two years from now. Also, if HI wants to see the women’s team develop, they should keep them in the Pro League. Only quality competition will help the team improve; otherwise, there is a danger of this blip becoming a pattern.