Indian women's hockey team headed in right direction ahead of World Cup, says coach Janneke Schopman

The Indian women's hockey team will be keen to put their best foot forward at the upcoming FIH Hockey Women's World Cup in the Netherlands and Spain. There is undoubtedly a lot of anticipation and hope to see the Indian women's hockey team fly high in the quadrennial tournament, especially after the team's heroics at the Tokyo Olympics.

The Women's World Cup commences on July 1. The Indian team's chief coach Janneke Schopman said the FIH Pro League matches are an ideal platform for the team to raise the bar ahead of the important World Cup.

"Playing top teams in FIH Pro League home games, we were mostly focused on ourselves. But more than the outcome of the matches, I am satisfied with how the team has played and I believe we are headed in the right direction," the Indian coach said in a Hockey India podcast series."

Indian women's hockey team to prepare for World Cup in Bengaluru

The Indian women's team led by Savita Punia ended their home games in the FIH Pro League as table toppers in their maiden campaign.

Speaking about the team's preparations in the forthcoming weeks ahead of the remaining FIH Pro League matches in Europe and the World Cup, Janneke said the team's focus will be on building their physical robustness.

"For the next five to six weeks, we will be in Bengaluru- in our own environment and we will train towards a common goal of doing well in the Pro League and the World Cup. Our focus will be on building our physical robustness. We will work on maximizing our speed in the game. We also want to limit the risk of injury as we will be playing back-to-back Pro League and World Cup matches," she explained.

In the upcoming FIH Women's World Cup, the Indian team is placed in Pool B along with England, China and New Zealand.

Janneke said Pool B is a tricky one and any team can beat anyone on their day and added that India would be wary of playing in such a competitive pool.

"We have played England a few times in the past and we are familiar with their game and the team has played China quite a lot too but because of the pandemic, we have not seen New Zealand play in the last two years and from what I have read about them, there are a few retirees in their team and a few players are injured. But having said that, ours is a pool where anyone can beat anyone on a good day and we just need to make sure we start well," she said.