India women’s hockey team (ANI Photo)
BENGALURU: Barely a week after finishing fifth at the FIH World Cup in Belgium, Salima Tete and her teammates were back at the SAI South Centre here, preparing for their biggest assignment of the year — the Asian Games starting in Japan on Sept 19.
Things are going very fast, and we have to move on to the next one,” chief coach Sjoerd Marijne said. I told the girls to be very proud of what we’ve done. They need to stay focused,” he said. Of course, you go into a tournament to achieve the highest reward, and that is an Olympic berth,” Marijne said.
With little time between the two competitions, the Indian women’s hockey team has hardly had a chance to savour or celebrate an impressive World Cup campaign. “I just got a text from a friend asking about the celebrations, given we did well at the World Cup. But the celebrations have to wait. We can enjoy afterwards. The focus now, the Dutchman added, is on building on their World Cup performance. “We paused and reflected on what we achieved. But we need to go further and do better than at the World Cup. What we did there may not be enough at the Asian Games. “I know the expectations are higher. We are a very strong contender for gold. That’s why we must give our best every day.
But before the gold medal, we need to win other matches.