Amstelveen (The Netherlands), Aug 16 (PTI ) With 11 players making their Hockey World Cup debut, Indian women team’s 2-2 draw against world No. 4 China was a significant result for the future, head coach Sjoerd Marijne said on Sunday.
India twice took the lead but had to settle for a point after China — the 2024 Olympics silver medal winners — fought back in the Pool D opening match.
“With 11 debutants in the team, a draw against the world No. number four is very good for the future,” Marijne said after the match.
“I am satisfied, but the result could have been different if we had got the PC in the end. I don’t want to talk about the referee’s decision. That’s the way it is and we have to deal with it.” India had already exhausted their video referral when they appealed for a penalty corner in the last minutes of the match.
“We had a clear PC but the referee was at an angle where she couldn’t see it and you really can’t blame her. We really need to learn about the video referrals,” Marijne said.
The Dutchman admitted that India struggled in the third quarter but was pleased with the team’s response in the final period.
“The third quarter was not that good but then we came back. The resilience of the team was good and I am happy with that. We did much better in the last quarter,” he said.
Marijne felt the result would ease the pressure on India in their remaining matches.
“It is a very important draw. If we had lost this one, the next two would have been must-win matches. Now we don’t have to do much calculations about who is winning against whom and we can focus on our own game,” he said.
“That’s what we have been doing so far since I came back.” India will next face South Africa, and Marijne warned his players against complacency.
“South Africa is a good team and we have to be at our best against them too,” he said.
The coach highlighted the contribution of Navneet Kaur, saying the forward’s performances showed the team is not over reliant on star drag flicker Deepika.
“Everyone was talking about Deepika during the Nations Cup but Navneet scored equally well and in the World Cup qualifiers too. So it’s not only about Deepika,” Marijne said.
India created several opportunities against China but Marijne said ball retention remained an area for improvement.
“We created chances, defensively we were very strong but we have to do better in winning the ball and keeping the ball,” he said.
Player of the match Navneet said the team showed considerable improvement against an opponent it had struggled against in the past.
“It was a tough match but we did exceptionally well. We were leading twice and we have to do better in maintaining the lead,” she said.
“Our past performance against them (China) was not good but we did not think about them today and forgot that they are Olympic medallists. That worked well.” Navneet added that senior players had urged the youngsters to play without fear.
“We told youngsters to keep the belief and do not worry about the mighty China,” she said when asked about the mantra seniors gave to debutants ahead of the match.” India captain Salima Tete said the team was happy with the point but would need to maintain its intensity in the remaining matches.
“We are happy with the one point but we will have to fight in every match and we are geared up for that,” Salima said. PTI MJ PDS
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