Anju Tamang says India women's football team 'mentally and physically stronger' in build-up to 2022 AFC Asian Cup

Women’s football in India stands on the cusp of a revolution. There is so much on the horizon to look forward to, from the 2022 AFC Women’s Asian Cup, which will be hosted in the country for the first time since 1979, to the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup later on. There’s also the AFC Women’s Club Championship, in which Indian Women’s League winners Gokulam Kerala will be taking part. At the very forefront of this footballing revolution is Anju Tamang, one of the Indian women’s football team’s brightest talents, and the 25-year-old star told Firstpost.com that it was imperative that India kept hosting such tournaments to grow the women’s game. “It is very important. Under-17 Women’s World Cup is such a path-breaking tournament that everyone wants to play in. This is a huge opportunity for the youngsters and it will help Indian parents be aware of the beautiful game. It’s a huge opportunity for us and we can get the best results if we give our best and that’s how it will develop women’s football in India,” said Tamang. Tamang and her fellow teammates are currently building up towards the 2022 AFC Women’s Asian Cup, but their preparations have been hampered to an extent by the COVID-19 pandemic, which necessitated slightly more creative, out-of-the-box solutions from players. “Owing to the pandemic situation, we couldn’t have proper training sessions as we couldn’t step out of our houses. Had there been no pandemic, we would have prepared for the upcoming AFC Asian Cup in a better way,” said Tamang. “We made makeshift arrangements to keep ourselves fitter during the early few months. We packed bottles, bricks in bags to make weights; used skipping rope, stairs, used tree branches for pull-ups. Our instructor used to send us the exercise regime and we stuck to that,” she added. Lately, however, the team is in the national camp, and Tamang says the situation is much more promising, despite the players currently being under quarantine. “We’re under quarantine right now but we’re looking forward to the training sessions that are scheduled to resume. Although we continue our stretching exercises at home, our proper training will start next. We are striving to learn new tactics, new methods under our new coach and obviously we’ll try our level best to execute them on the field. We are excited about it.” [caption id=“attachment_9915391” align=“alignnone” width=“640”]  File image of Anju Tamang. AIFF[/caption] Another major development in the women’s football team has been the departure of long-time coach Maymol Rocky, who quit in July citing personal reasons. Rocky has since been replaced by former U17 coach Thomas Dennerby, and Tamang stated that it’s been an exciting new challenge for the players, saying, “we are always up for something new, fresh. What Maymol ma’am has done for us is immense, but we are excited to start our training under the Swedish coach who we have heard a lot about. Once we start our training, we will slowly get to comprehend his way of training and tactics.” Tamang also spoke about the two rounds of international friendlies that the team has played this season, namely matches against Serbia, Ukraine and Russia in the Turkish Women’s Cup in February, as well as games against Uzbekistan and Belarus in April. “We are very young and each one of us is pushing ourselves to give our best on the pitch. I think our team has become stronger mentally and physically. It was rightly visible while playing against Russia, Belarus. These invaluable experiences will surely help us at the upcoming Asian Cup,” said Tamang.