Indian women's hockey forwards Navneet Kaur and Neha talk about their hockey journey

Navneet Kaur and Neha, who were part of the historic fourth-place finish stint at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics for India, shared their hockey journey.

Navneet stressed the importance of her father on her journey, while Neha credited her mother for her success. Both players also spoke about their experiences with the Indian team.

They also shared the reasons behind the team's success over the past few years, including the historic 2021 Olympics campaign. The two forwards have also expressed the challenges they have faced in their careers so far.

Speaking on Hockey Te Charcha ­– a podcast series initiated by Hockey India, forward Navneet said:

"I always had a great interest in sports since my childhood. My father wanted me to be a cricketer, but there was no cricket in my hometown - Shahabad. There was a school in front of my house where hockey was played and that's where I started playing the sport. My father, who used to work in a TV repair shop, has put in a lot of effort to help me reach the Indian team."

Navneet is one of the smartest players in the Indian team and has the potential to swiftly work through any chances provided by the team.

Navneet further added:

"The Hockey Junior World Cup 2013 was the biggest tournament for me when I joined the Junior Indian Women's Team. It was quite a good tournament for me. We won the Bronze Medal after winning a shoot-out and I had also scored in the shoot-out. A lot of players from that Indian Junior team are playing together in the current Senior India Team. It has felt really nice to play with the same players for so many years."

Neha cited 'fitness' as a reason for teams success:

Indian hockey forward Neha shed light on the initial days of struggle, mother's support and the importance of fitness in the women's team's consistent performance.

Neha said:

"I faced a lot of challenges when I started playing hockey. My Coach and my mother have supported me a lot. My mother has struggled a lot to help me reach where I am today."

She further added:

"We felt really happy when we won the Gold Medal at the Women's Asia Cup 2017. Thereafter, our confidence kept increasing little by little and we kept improving our performance as well. We also focussed on improving our fitness. Then we played well at the FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifiers 2019 and then we produced a good result at the Tokyo Olympics. We could do well at the Olympics only because we had improved our fitness."