Special attention given to goalkeeping and dragflicking ahead of India's Pro League matches, says coach Harendra
Kolkata: Indian women's hockey coach Harendra Singh is hopeful of positive results during the Pro League matches starting in London on Saturday.
The Salima Tete-led side will begin their European leg with two consecutive matches against Australia at Lee Valley Hockey & Tennis Centre and then face off against Argentina — also a double header.
They will next play twice against Belgium in Antwerp and a double header against China in Berlin.
These eight matches will undoubtedly test the character of the team and the coach has left no stone unturned to prepare his wards for the challenges ahead.
"We worked in every department but primarily focused on individual roles. Moreover, we gave special attention to goalkeeping and dragflicking. We sent Deepika and Manisha to Europe 10 days ahead of the rest of the team so that they could work under Dutch drag-flick expert Toon Siepman," Harendra said during a virtual interaction on Friday.
As far as the goalkeeping is concerned, Simon Zijp, who earlier worked with the Indian goalkeepers ahead of the Pro League matches in Bhubaneswar, was back with the team. He has been working with the Netherlands women's and men's teams for about 13 years. And, among the many goalkeepers who he has trained over the years are Jaap Stockmann, Alexander Stadler, and Pirmin Blaak.
Harendra, meanwhile, is hoping to use the team's experience of playing in Australia — where they played five matches and won one — to good effect and start their European sojourn on a high.
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"Australia played full press during the tour matches, so we're keeping that in mind that we should come out with the same pace on Saturday. We should counter it and stretch them and then play stick to stick hockey," added the coach, who took over the team last year.
"The Australia tour was more about experience but during the Pro League we need to be more alert and scan the field and have peripheral vision."
Moreover, the coach is quite optimistic of making it to the World Cup next year in Belgium and the Netherlands by faring well in the Pro League. India are currently placed sixth in the standings with nine points from eight matches and the coach believes that they can qualify for the quadrennial event by finishing fifth, which seems quite viable at the moment.
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