Commonwealth Games 2018: Indian women's hockey team look to make most of recent form at Gold Coast

There is a buzz around Indian women’s hockey team. From the lows of finishing last at the 2016 Rio Olympics to highs of winning the Asia Cup last year, women’s hockey team has come a long way in a very short span. When Hockey India (HI) appoint Harendra Singh as head coach of the women’s team, with Sjoerd Marijne, who was originally in charge of the women’s side, taking charge of the men’s, quite a few eyebrows were raised. After the sacking of Roelant Oltmans, Harendra was the front-runner for the men’s team head coach job. But looking retrospectively, Hockey India’s decision seems to be working wonders for the women’s team. [caption id=“attachment_4416697” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Indian women’s hockey team captain Rani Rampal.[/caption] Since taking charge, Harendra has changed quite a few things with regard to the game the team plays, but it didn’t happen overnight. He was appointed with less than a month left for the Asia Cup. First, he started setting up a team with a blend of youth and experience. He appointed Rani Rampal as the captain of the team, also recalled Sushila Chanu back into the side. Apart from tinkering with the team, Harendra also laid emphasis on improving the fitness of the team. In the training camps, Indian players worked hard to increase their endurance levels. In the group stages of the Asia Cup, India had won all their matches, beating Malaysia, Singapore and China. After making it to the semis, India knocked out defending champions Japan 4-2 to reach the final where they beat China 5-4 in the shootout. By winning their second Asia Cup gold, India also qualified for 2018 World Cup. More than the victory, Harendra took pride in the fact that the team got the winning belief back. “The important thing about the win was that the team got the belief that they can do it. I asked for pace and aggression. There were moments in some matches we had to defend. But we kept looking for counters and that made the opposition uneasy,” Harendra said after the match. At the upcoming Commonwealth Games, the Indian team has been grouped in Pool A along with Malaysia, Wales, England and South Africa. The Indian team is currently ranked No 10 in the world and will face stiff competition from higher ranked teams such as England (2), New Zealand (4) and hosts Australia (5). India started their preparation with a tour of South Korea and clinching the five-match series. Beating a higher-ranked side like South Korea, the Indian team showed that the Asia Cup triumph was not a lucky affair. “We have played with the same set of players for a long period so the players have formed a great understanding among themselves which was evident during our 2017 Asia Cup triumph,” Harendra said. “The team also performed well in South Korea to beat a higher-ranked side and we will be looking to cause a few upsets and aim for the podium as the morale is high going into the prestigious Gold Coast 2018 XXI Commonwealth Games,” he added. Skipper Rani Rampal also believes that team is in good form and they would try to recreate the glory of 2002 when the women’s team won the Commonwealth Games gold medal. “We go into the tournament in good form after winning the series in South Korea and while we have only finished fifth in the two previous occasions, this time we will look to finish on the podium as we have a great set of players with a mixture of experience and youth. The team’s hunger to win will certainly be a key factor in us performing well at the Games,” Rani said. If Rampal and Co can script a memorable performance at the Gold Coast Games then it will be a huge boost of the team ahead of two important competitions this year — Asian Games and World Cup. It will be a tough task but not an impossible one.