BHUBANESWAR: Kalinga Stadium has been witness to some of the world’s best men’s hockey artists painting the blue canvas according to their whims and fancies.
On Friday night, the Indian women’s hockey team joined them. The final scoreline of 5-1 — which coach Sjoerd Marijne called a “dream” after the win — against US in their first Olympic qualifier means they have one leg on the door for Tokyo next year. India will go through to the Olympics as long as they don’t lose by four goals or more on Saturday. If they lose by four goals, there will be a penalty shootout to decide the winner.
Even though the final scoreline did not flatter the World No 9, they took their time to flick on their switch. The start resembled a game of high-stakes poker. Both sides adopted a “not concede early” strategy. Even though the hosts went in with a 1-0 advantage, half-time came at the right time for Rani Rampal & Co. They were nervous and it showed. Defensive passes were frequently finding US sticks.
Marijne had recently watched Chak De India. The Dutchman knew that he had to make a speech to remind the girls to just enjoy themselves first. “Listen. Nobody is going to die today. This isn’t life and death. Just breathe in and breathe out.”
That did the trick. The team that came out wore a completely different identity. They were not only pressing higher up, but were also quicker to the second ball and more alive to opportunities.
From artisans in the first 30 minutes, India had become artists in the third and fourth quarters. The field goals they scored wouldn’t be out of place at a Cirque du Soleil performance. Navneet Kaur and Lilima Minz exchanged passes inside the D before the former put it on a plate for Sharmila Devi, who tapped the ball home from less than a yard out. 1-0 became 2-0, and swagger had replaced nervousness that was visible throughout the first half.
The match was as good as over less than six minutes later. It was a counterattack of such beauty that it brought the strangely subdued crowd to their feet. US had the ball inside India’s 23m line. Less than 10 seconds later, Navneet had scored their fourth. After US were dispossessed — something that happened to them a lot in the last part of the match — the hosts went from coast to coast in a move consisting of 11 touches and five passes. It was so mesmerising to watch that Marijne clapped with fervour. The move ended with the pacy Salima Tete — a Youth Olympics silver-medallist — haring down the right before the squaring the ball for Navneet, who slapped it past Kelsey Bing.
After the match, Marijne didn’t hold back when it came to praising the field goals. “The speed of Salima (and) Sharmila... To set up moves like that at a stage like this. I think all of India can be proud of that.”
Even though India’s copybook was blotted minutes before the end, one player who will be incredibly proud of the scoreline is Rampal. She knows what it’s like to lose at the hands of US in an Olympic qualifier.
“I remember my first tournament was the Olympic qualifiers against US in 2008,” she had said before the match. “We played each other in the final and lost 1-4. After the match, a lot of the Indian players were crying. Suman Bala (former player) came up to me and said, ‘You have to become like them to beat them one day’.”
Bala had called up Rampal on Tuesday to remind her about this conversation from 11 years ago. On Friday, the skipper, who was adjudged Player of the Match, had kept up her end of the bargain.
Result: India 5 (Lilima Minz 28th; Sharmila Devi 40th; Gurjit Kaur 42nd, 51st; Navneet Kaur 46th) bt USA 1 (Erin Matson 54th).