CHENNAI: While the Asia Cup success of the Indian men’s hockey team after a decade is a moment of pride, it’s also a big motivation for the Indian women’s team, who, led by forward Rani Rampal, jetted off on Tuesday to participate in the 9th Women’s Asia Cup in Japan, starting on October 28. For new women’s coach Harendra Singh, who replaced Sjoerd Marijne, this tournament will be the first real test. Sushila Chanu Pukhrambam is making a comeback into the women’s contingent, and feels the transition under Harendra was smooth owing to better communication.
“Knowing the local language made things easy for our coach Harendra. Lot of us speak Hindi and Haryanvi, and we were able to converse effortlessly. This was not the case with Marijne, since he was not able to understand our language and it took time to decipher what we said,” said Manipur- born Sushila, who played under Marijne during the New Zealand tour and the World League Semifinal. Sushila led the Indian team at the 2016 Rio Olympics, and last played in the World League Semifinal in Johannesburg in July before being dropped for the Europe tour of the Netherlands and Belgium.
The team this time also includes forwards Navjot Kaur and Sonika, and defender Suman Devi Thoudam. With eight of the 18 players in the squad having played over 100 international matches, Sushila believes that this experience will be crucial. She said, “When India A played in the Australian Hockey League last month, it was totally different. The game was fast, junior players were unable to cope with the speed and that’s why we lost badly.
"But this team, it is a much better side with the experienced players like Navjot coming in. Rani and Savita (goalkeeper) are in exceptional form.” A title-winning performance in Japan will also seal qualification for the 2018 Hockey World Cup, which will be the team’s top objective. With the triumph of the men’s team, the women will have high expectations, having last won the Asia Cup in 2004.
srinidhi@newindianexpress.com