Harpal Singh Bedi
The Indian Women’s Team opened the year 2019 with a aim to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics after narrowing missing the ticket at the 2018 Asian Games where they had finished runners up . And they achieved that .
The loss in the Final to Japan in the Asian Games only made the team more aggressive .Their opening Tour of the season in Spain saw them clinch confidence-boosting wins against the World Cup runners up Ireland and third placer Spain.
A reassuring start to the season helped the team to shed their underdog image,and the players began to believe that they can beat higher ranked teams. “I think the fact that many people never believed that we were capable of beating top teams did affect us. Some way, this was affecting the team’s morale too but I think this tour to Spain set off a new beginning for Indian Women’s Team where we knew we can create historic results,”, according to skipper of the Indian team Rani Rampal.
In the following months, the team had a successful outing in Malaysia — clinching the tour with four wins and a draw. They also won the Tour to Korea with two wins and a loss. They then avenged their loss to Japan in the Asian Games as they defeated the hosts at the important Women’s Series Finals in Hiroshima, Japan. This helped the team qualify for the Olympic Qualifiers to be held in Bhubaneswar in November.
“I believe the team has grown immensely both mentally and physically this year. Our defeats only made us stronger and we wanted to adapt to the aggressive, attacking game more like how the Dutch women play. We wanted to showcase that winning attitude, which we lacked earlier. I think improving our fitness was a big plus point that made a huge difference to our attitude,” Rani opined.
While the team beat China and Japan, drew with Australia in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics Test Event, they won a match, drew three and lost a match against Rio Olympics Gold Medal winner Britain during their tour to England in September .
The turning point of the year was in Bhubaneswar where the team played out a success Olympic Qualifiers against USA. “It was everything we had trained for and we didn’t give ourselves any other option but to win. The atmosphere was quite incredible and also nervy as many of us had not experienced the home crowd.
“”Now that we have qualified, next year will be all about taking our game to the next level with further improved fitness because the playing conditions in Tokyo will be quite challenging. While making the top four in the Olympics is a target, we also want to win the Asian Champions Trophy which is before the Olympics. This will give us a good momentum for Tokyo,” Rani added