Women's Pro League: Porous defence, missed chances led to relegation
NEW DELHI: Harendra Singh was upbeat before leaving for Europe in late May. The India women's chief coach appeared confident about the team's chances of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup via the Pro League, having missed the bus for the 2024 Paris Olympics. India's next chance to qualify for the 2026 World Cup will be the Hangzhou Asia Cup in September. (Hockey India)
The optimism seemed justified. The team management had put in a lot of effort in the national camps in the first half of the year. Fresh blood had been injected in the team. An Australia tour for friendlies was organised. Dutch drag-flick legend Taeke Taekema was brought in regularly to train India's penalty corner (PC) specialists and Deepika Sehrawat and Manisha Chauhan were sent to the Netherlands to train under famous PC coach Toon Siepman.
But when the time came to put all that into practice, the Salima Tete-led outfit failed to deliver and was shockingly relegated from the Pro League to the Nations Cup after finishing last in the nine-team elite competition. After 16 games across five months, India won just two, losing 11 and drawing three to be relegated.
In the European leg, India lost seven games out of eight and also lost in the shootout in the only draw they managed against Argentina, who qualified for the World Cup after finishing second. Netherlands won the league but had already qualified as hosts.
'It's very disadvantageous and critical (to not play the Pro League) because you want to play against the best. The Pro League is a very good solution for improving your hockey. It's very important to play international matches that are far better than any training session,' former India chief coach Sjoerd Marijne, who guided the team to an unprecedented fourth place at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, told HT from Den Bosch.
'You learn so much from it. That's why it's such a big thing. That's why it's such a disappointment that they didn't make it. In Pro League, every time you're playing under pressure. It's perfect for players to grow as a team and to prepare for Olympics/World Cup qualification because everything is about that.'
The Pro League is a major reason for the success of the Indian men's team of late. Facing the best players and challenging the best teams brought out the best in the Harmanpreet Singh-led team that didn't cower when facing the world's best as the players were already used to it. As a result, India became the only team that medalled in the Tokyo and Paris Olympics. India also beat Australia at the Olympics for the first time in 52 years and have created a huge gap between them and other Asian teams.
However, the women's team has been quite underwhelming. One of the primary reasons for the downfall was an inability to convert their chances. The likes of Salima, Lalremsiami and Sharmila Devi would often run in from the flanks but the attacking midfielders and strikers would fail to convert the half chances.
The defence too failed miserably. Despite the presence of seasoned goalkeeper Savita Punia, India maintained a clean slate in just one of the 16 games. Some of the young defenders were overwhelmed facing up to opposing strikers and weren't able to maintain structure, conceding goals or PCs. India scored 22 goals but conceded a whopping 43.
'The hunger to win was missing. That is a virtue that needs to be seen on the field. I felt that the girls were not giving their full effort. They were not playing with the aim of winning. It is a big setback, especially for the youngsters and their future. We have gone back to where we were,' former India skipper Pritam Rani Siwach told HT from Sonipat.
India's next chance to qualify for the 2026 World Cup will be the Hangzhou Asia Cup in September.
'To qualify for the World Cup now becomes the priority. It is where I would focus my attention to playing more games versus Asian teams and finding out what you will be faced with at the Asia Cup. Europe and top teams in the world would now be less important to me as a coach now,' former women's coach Neil Hawgood, who guided India to their first Olympic qualification after 36 years in 2016, told HT from Brisbane.
The Asia Cup won't be a cakewalk. Though India won the Asian Champions Trophy in the last two years, they will be up against hosts China, who won silver at the Paris Games and beat them in the Pro League.
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