Ranchi: Indian women's hockey team head coach Janneke Schopman on Thursday admitted that the Hangzhou Asian Games were a missed opportunity to seal a Paris Games berth but the country is confident of making the grade in the Olympic qualifiers beginning here on Saturday. Having failed to book a direct Olympics berth at the Hangzhou Asian Games last year, the Indian team is looking for the 2024 Paris Games through the qualifying tournament here. The top-three teams out of eight competing in the January 13-19 tournament will qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
"We did not qualify for the Olympics from the Asian Games and we know it was a missed opportunity. But we don't dwell on the past," Schopman said at the pre-tournament press conference.
"We are hoping to do well in this tournament. We need to be better (than before) and if we play to our best, we can qualify for the Olympics (from here)."
India, who are placed in Pool B, begin their campaign against the USA on Saturday, before facing New Zealand (January 14) and Italy (January 16). The knockout matches will be held on January 18 and 19 respectively.
"USA is a threat. We have played against them earlier, though the past or the rankings do not matter much. We are a good side, we want to play good hockey and we are ready for the tournament," she stated.
"We don't want to think for things on which we don't control but we will do whatever we can on things which are in our hands."
Asked about specific areas where the Indian team needs improvement, she said
"We want to play according to our principles and foundation. Our game plan is to understand the situation, make right decisions according to the needs of the game in that particular point. We also need to have 11 players on the field (meaning try to earn minimum cards) during a match."
Former Indian men's team drag-flick expert Rupinder Pal Singh had a short stint will the women's side to fix the penalty-corner conversion woes, and Schopman said the players had benefited from it. Despite winning the Asian Champions Trophy here, India had wasted plenty of penalty corners in the subsequent tournaments, including in the Asian Games, and Schopman had marked it as an area that needs improvement.
"Rupinder has the expertise as he is an experienced player. He knows the pressure on the top of 'D'. It was a great help for the likes of Gurjit Kaur and Deepika to fine-tune their skills. I am very happy with that."
Captain Savita Punia said her side would look to play attacking hockey.
"Our strength is attacking though we are also good at defending. We will do just that in upcoming matches," she said.
"We respect the other teams and it will definitely be challenging for us in the tournament. But we will focus on our strengths instead of worrying about other team's strengths."
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