Savita & Co. seek to end Indian women’s long drought for a hockey medal at the Asian Games

Hangzhou Asian Games bound Indian women’s hockey team captain Savita during the felicitation function by Hockey India in Bengaluru on Thursday, August 31, 2023.
| Photo Credit: K. BHAGYA PRAKASH

The Indian women’s hockey team’s first and only gold medal at the Asian Games came in 1982. 

Captain Savita Punia and her teammates will strive to end the long drought at Hangzhou later this month. The side will take heart from some encouraging results in the recent past, having only narrowly missed out on a bronze medal at the Olympics, before going on to win the Women’s FIH Hockey Nations Cup. 

At the Asian Games, India is grouped with South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, and Hong Kong. While South Korea offers the toughest challenge, the players will guard against complacency when facing the other sides. 

“In modern hockey, all teams have improved a lot. Every match is important. Yes, history shows that Korea, China, Japan, and India are the best teams in Asia. But we will also play the other teams with full focus,” Savita said at the send-off ceremony hosted by Hockey India here. 

Savita took lessons from Hockey India president and former India men’s international Dilip Tirkey, who had stated earlier in the event that during his playing career, the national side suffered a great deal by taking things lightly against supposedly weaker units. 

“As a senior player, I know that we have also made this mistake in the past. Every single match is important, no matter who you face,” Savita said. 

In the last edition of the continental games, the Indian women’s team was edged out 2-1 by Japan in the final. Savita is desperate to go one better this time, but not at the cost of putting the younger players under pressure. 

“The gold medal is our target. But we do not want to make the mistake of starting the tournament by talking about winning the gold. This puts a lot of pressure on young players. We will take it one match at a time,” Savita said.  

The team will open its Asian Games campaign against Singapore on September 27.