Harendra Singh’s ‘fearless’ approach working for India’s women hockey

Sushila Chanu celebrating a goal with her team-mate (Photo: Hockey India)

New Delhi: If the boys can do it, so can we. That’s the belief India’s women hockey team has played with in the 2017 Asia Cup. And after five wins on the bounce, scoring 27 goals and conceding only four, coach Harendra Singh’s team is just a step away from winning the trophy that last landed in India’s hockey cabinet 13 years ago.

Last month, India’s men won the Asia Cup after a gap of 10 years and the women are now a win shy of breaking a jinx that’s over a decade long as well. But there are more pleasant coincidences in the comparison when we look at the broadsheet.

The men had a new coach in Sjoerd Marijne. The women had the same in Harendra. Both had little-to-no experience coaching senior national teams – men in case of Marijne and women in case of Harendra. But putting doubts to rest, Marijne led the team to win the Asia Cup and Harendra is on the brink of doing the same. The icing on the cake is this: Marijne’s boys stayed unbeaten in the tournament and Harendra’s girls can do the same with a win over China on Sunday.

India’s Asian dominance in men’s hockey is beyond doubts, but the women left behind defending champions Japan and Korea, both ranked higher, to reach the final where they meet the continent’s best and top-ranked team in China. Where a top-four finish would have been considered an achievement, India are now assured of an Asia Cup medal after eight years.

To top it all, Harendra would like the fans to remember that India qualified for the 2018 World Cup as champions of the Asian continent, not because South Africa winning the African Cup of Nations opened up a slot for India.

‘BE FEARLESS, BE AGGRESSIVE’

Harendra’s mantra from the day he took over as coach of this team has been “fearless hockey”.

“I told the girls to never fear the opponents, whoever it is. Play hard, play with aggression and give it all you have. That’s what I have always told them, and with God’s grace it has shown results,” Harendra told Zee Media from Kakamigahara in Japan after India beat the hosts 4-2 in the semifinal on Friday.

The bane of this Indian team of late has been lack of fitness as well as players who can take charge and announce themselves on the big stage.

But in Gurjit Kaur, who has scored eight goals in the tournament so far, including five in the quarterfinal and semifinal, India seem to now have a dragflicker who can turn the screws on the opposition.

“She has the potential to be a world-class dragflicker. We are working on it, working on her quickness and footwork. Besides, we study where the opposition is leaving holes in its defence on penalty corners, what angles to work on. She is putting in a lot of hard work to do that and her improved conversion rate is a proof,” Harendra said.

CHINA MEET

World No. 8 China will be a tough hurdle to cross, but what should give No. 12 India a lot of heart is the fact that they beat them in pool stage with a healthy margin of 4-1.

“It’s a new day, a new game and the final. We have taken one game at a time throughout the tournament, and now we are just one game away from winning the trophy. So we have to put all our focus and energies on the biggest match of the tournament, and we will give it our best shot,” said Harendra, whose last India coaching stint won the junior men’s World Cup for the country in December 2016.