ON one of the Indian hockey's greatest days in recent times, the women's team produced a performance for the ages to advance to the next phase of the World Cup. For almost the entirety of the second half against England on a very Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde summer afternoon at the Wagener Stadium in Amstelveen — it was raining one moment, it was sunny the next, when it was neither, the wind made its presence felt — the side decided its defensive ranks and repelled whatever England managed to throw at them in an increasingly frenetic third and fourth quarters.
England had 11 penalty corners, 20 shots on goal and 19 circle entries (India's respective numbers for these metrics were 6, 12 and 12) but India weren't going to be denied. Their penalty corner defense was another level, with skipper Salima Tete & Co. forming a human wall at the back. When the first rusher was beaten, one of Savita Punia or Bichu Devi came up trumps. If they were also beaten by the pace of the drag-flick, the person on the post did their job to divert the ball.
Remember that scene from the last Harry Potter film? When Minerva McGonagall's charm (Piertotum Locomotor) brought all inanimate objects to life to defend the castle during the Battle of Hogwarts? It was all a bit like that as an increasingly desperate England even removed their goalkeeper as they went in search of the goal they needed to advance at India's expense. With the clock ticking down, India even burned their review as they unsuccessfully appealed against England being awarded a penalty corner. But their defense repelled it like they had done all afternoon. England had one final shot on target with seconds remaining but Bichu threw herself to her left to beat the ball away from danger. It brought a scream from the dugout as coach Sjoerd Marijne released all his pent up emotions. On the field, the women quickly regrouped as the opponents went in search of the ball to launch one final attack. But they ran out of time and as soon as the hooter blared through the PA system, England players collapsed to the turf. If disappointment was writ large on their faces, it was in stark contrast to the emotions on the women in saffron. There were hugs, hi fives, some relief and a few tears too. For 30 minutes, they suffered, they winced and had to grind. A few players even had to sacrifice their natural attacking flare to deliver this performance.
The irony, though, and there was one, was that when the match began, India were very quickly on the front foot even if they only had to draw this encounter to advance. Their full-court press caused all kinds of problems and did have multiple chances to go in front. They also had three penalty corners in quick succession before England's forward-thinking players dribbled with the ball in the other half of the pitch. However, India, who had lost the final of the World Cup qualifying tournament 0-2 to England in March, slowly but surely started ceding ground. By the time the second half had began, they had retreated deep into their own territory as they decided to soak up pressure rather than go for the jugular. This is, of course, the tendency of most sports teams in an high-stakes environment.
England, ranked two rungs higher than their opponents (7th and 9th), didn't need a second invitation to set up a base. India responded by parking the proverbial bus in front of their own goal. Every time England got the ball and dribbled, there were at least four saffron shirts inside the striking circle alone. The others took up positions just ahead of the defense. Sandwiched by the two-minute break for the end of the third quarter, England had eight penalty corners in 13 second-half minutes. But a heroic Indian defense, led by Tete, who was magisterial as the first-rusher, and backed up by her colleagues, put their sticks on the line and played like their lives depended on seeing this match out.
It was worth it in the end.
In February 2024, Janneke Schopman, the then coach of the women's team, alleged discrimination by Hockey India before resigning. A few months before that, the team hadn't even qualified for the Paris Games. Late last year, after several complaints were made against Harendra Singh, he also left his post. The women's team were going nowhere and the programme had suffered because of two years of malaise.
That's when Marijne was brought back, one of the architects of Tokyo when the team had finished fourth. Less than nine months later, they are now in the top eight of the world game.
