Indian women’s hockey coach Janneke says Senior group is quite competitive

Beaming faces: The junior women’s players, who made India proud by winning the Asia Cup, were felicitated at SAI, Bengaluru, on Tuesday.
| Photo Credit: SHAILENDRA BHOJAK

The Indian junior women’s hockey team’s maiden Asia Cup triumph has given hopes of an improved performance at the Junior World Cup later this year, but the girls might have to wait a while before making the transition to the senior side.

With the Asian Games just over three months away, coach Janneke Schopman is clear that there won’t be much changes in the senior core group. “I am quite happy with the performance of the players in the Junior Asia Cup and for me, it was always about using the tournament and the Australia tour for the seniors to have more players in the camp.

“But I think our senior core group is quite competitive at the moment and people know they have to turn up every day to have a chance of being selected,” Janneke said during an interaction on Tuesday.

Tough choice

With the squad to be finalised by mid-July, Janneke admitted it was tough to select the best possible players but added that it was not just about the selection trials. “We have been monitoring players from last year.

“Of course it matters how players do at this time and if they are fit and they need to be good because the selectors will be there later this month, but as staff we also know it’s not just that one selection trial. The next couple of weeks will be about making the pieces of the puzzle fit,” she added.

Mumtaz Khan, who scored six goals in the tournament, explained how the team had learnt from its mistakes during the previous Junior World Cup, where India finished fourth. “We learnt how to control in the dying minutes. We used to get flustered earlier but in Japan we knew the value of every second. We have learnt from our mistakes and moved forward, one step at a time,” she said.

The junior team will next travel to Germany for a 5-nation event, including Belgium and Netherlands, and play practice matches with Belgium ahead of the JWC, to be held in Santiago, Chile, in December.