What ails India’s women’s hockey team: No big wins, no goal-scorer of calibre, poor selection calls

“I don’t know.”

With these words, India coach Janneke Schopman ended the media interaction after the 1-0 loss to Japan, which shattered the Paris Olympics dreams. Schopman, who took over the team immediately after the Tokyo Olympics where it finished fourth, was asked about her future.

Since the Tokyo Games, there were ample signs of this being a team in stagnation – from Muscat to Amstelveen and Terrasa, Birmingham to Hangzhou. Ranchi, however, proved that it was far more serious: India were in decline.

Whether Schopman emerges from this unscathed remains to be seen, especially since her employers – Hockey India – aren’t the ones to take setbacks so kindly. If a section of Hockey India had its way, it is learnt the Dutchwoman wouldn’t have been in Ranchi for the qualifiers – they wanted her out after last year’s Asian Games, where India missed the first chance to seal an Olympic berth.

Even in defeat, the Indian Women’s Hockey Team showcased grit and determination. 🏑💪

Your journey doesn’t end here; it’s a stepping stone for greater victories ahead. Keep pushing, keep believing!
#TeamIndia #IndiaKaGame #FutureChampions pic.twitter.com/L19NpgHj8Z

— Dilip Kumar Tirkey (@DilipTirkey) January 19, 2024

Whether she gets – and if she wants – a longer rope is a question that immediately pops up in the immediate aftermath of this catastrophe.

Not just Schopman. Captain and goalkeeper Savita Punia, one of the pillars over the last decade, did not answer the question about her future. After years of unprecedented highs, this loss might be too bitter, too heavy for Savita and the rest of her teammates to digest.

But amidst the scrutiny over the coach and fate of senior players, a basic question emerges: How did a team that finished fourth at the Tokyo Olympics mess up so badly that they didn’t even make it to Paris?

This was, after all, a more favourable scenario compared to the last time. Unlike the Tokyo qualification race, which was a two-legged, winner-takes-all playoff, this was an eight-team affair where the top three were awarded Olympic spots. At world No.6, India were the second-highest-ranked team and were playing at home. It felt like everything had aligned for them to make it to their third straight Olympics.

A performance that we all can take pride in.
It just wasn’t meant to be.

Full-time:
India 🇮🇳 0 – Japan 🇯🇵 1

Goal Scorer:
6′ Urata Kana#HockeyIndia #IndiaKaGame #EnRouteToParis@CMO_Odisha @FIH_Hockey @IndiaSports @sports_odisha @Media_SAI @HemantSorenJMM pic.twitter.com/fT1buvb4a9

— Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) January 19, 2024

There will be a detailed postmortem in the days to come, but a few key issues stand out: India’s inability to beat higher-ranked teams, consistently losing critical matches, an ill-planned succession of key players and lack of transparency over team selections.

Inability to beat big teams

The common link between Indian women’s hockey’s two biggest achievements – the 2002 CWG title and Tokyo Olympics fourth place – was the fact that they defeated much-fancied opponents while doing so. It was New Zealand and England at Manchester 2002, and Australia at Tokyo 2020.

Since that sultry afternoon in the Japanese capital three years ago, India haven’t managed a single eye-popping win. In the 2022 World Cup, they couldn’t beat England and China, lost to New Zealand and Spain. In a three-nation tournament in Germany last year, they lost to the hosts and China and later in 2023, they lost to Spain, Belgium and Germany at a five-nation tournament in Spain.

We will miss you in #Paris2024, girls 💔#FIHOlympicQualifiers pic.twitter.com/Dlf2da0YFe

— JioCinema (@JioCinema) January 19, 2024

Before the qualifiers, the closest they came to causing an upset was against Australia in the semifinals of the Birmingham CWG. But after playing out a 1-1 draw in regulation time, they lost in the shootouts. A similar script followed against Germany on Thursday, once again underlining that in big moments, the team lacked composure.

Big event flop

The inability to go toe-to-toe with nations ranked higher than, or closer to, them meant India constantly fell short in tournaments of consequence. Especially in crunch knockout games, the team seemed to have been lacking the mental fortitude and basic hockey skills eluded them.

Post-Tokyo, they lost in the semifinals of the 2022 Asia Cup to South Korea. The team couldn’t make it past the group stage of the World Cup

Asia Cup 2022 — lost in the semifinals to South Korea; couldn’t make it to the quarterfinals of the 2022 World Cup (which they did in 2018, a spectacular run that triggered the turnaround); lost in the semifinals of the Commonwealth Games that year; and fell short once again in the last-four stage of the Asian Games last October.

These were all warning signs. But the triumph at the Asian Champions Trophy – a pointless tournament immediately after the Asiad – painted a flattering picture coming into the qualifiers; if not within the team then amongst those around it.

This isn’t to say the team lacks quality. Players like Udita Duhan, Salima Tete, Sangita Kumari, Ishika Chaudhary, Neha Goyal and goalkeeper Bichu Devi (who didn’t play a role in the qualifiers) are all expected to form the core of the team going forward and have the ability to help the team bounce back immediately.

But in the Tokyo-to-Paris cycle, their shortcomings were identical, especially in attack where India lacked a reliable striker and didn’t have a go-to penalty corner specialist.

Schopman’s tactics will be deeply dissected over the next few days but so will her selections. Rani Rampal was forced out of the team but the selectors and coach could not replace the former India captain with a striker who had a half-decent scoring ability.

Lack of transparency

Rani had the uncanny knack of being at the right place at the right time and could score decisive goals – her strike against the USA that sealed India’s Tokyo Olympics spot is a prime example. In the post-Tokyo, post-Rani era, India haven’t had a striker of that calibre.

Schopman still hasn’t given a reason as to why Rani wasn’t considered for selection. Then again, she didn’t provide any explanation for the absence of deep defender Deep Grace Ekka and drag-flicker Gurjit Kaur – who scored that goal against Australia at the Olympics.

Gurjit wasn’t the best defender in the team but she used to have a mean flick. Over the last week, her like-for-like replacement Deepika could not fill in the shoes. And while Udita scored with her trademark slap-shots, she was barely used against Japan as Schopman persisted with Deepika.

Curiously, days before the tournament, Gurjit was photographed by Hockey India taking lessons for former men’s drag-flicker Rupinderpal Singh. She was accompanied by other set-piece specialists but when the team was announced, Gurjit’s name was mysteriously missing.

Ditto with Deep Grace. When she was asked on the eve of the tournament why the defender wasn’t in the team, Schopman simply said: “Only she can explain.”

With India dumped out of the Olympics, Schopman, too, might have some explanation to do.

Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.