Before the Indian women’s hockey team’s final match of the FIH Pro League started, their analytical coach, Dave Smolenaars, said the team need to work on both sides of the pitch. The advice was implemented only in the first quarter as the team lost 2-3 to Paris Olympics silver medallists China and were relegated to the FIH Nations Cup after finishing last in the points table.
The team, coached by Harendra Singh, failed to win any match in the European League of the tournament and ended the tournament with only 10 points to receive the wooden spoon.
Though the relegation was confirmed before the match even started, the Indian team would have liked to finish with a win. But they lost despite taking an early lead in the first quarter, showing inconsistency throughout the match.
India started well with two attacks from both flanks, while China also attacked through their midfield. China earned a penalty corner in the seventh minute, but it was saved by the Indian defence, which has generally been poor while defending penalty corners.
India’s best moment of the match came in the ninth minute when forward Sunelita Toppo received a ball from the midfield outside of the circle, ran towards the circle, and unleashed a precise diagonal shot across the turf to give India the lead in the match.
The Indian defence did well to thwart three circle penetrations from China and defend one penalty corner. However, as the second quarter started, the Chinese team came all guns blazing. They won three consecutive penalty corners in the fourth minute, with the third one being converted by Ying Zhang in the 19th minute.
India had a numerical advantage in the 24th minute as Liu Chencheng was shown a green card, but the team failed to capitalise on it with Deepika fluffing a 1v2 opportunity. China’s relentless attack resulted in another penalty corner in the last minute of the quarter, which was expertly converted by Zhang again, who smashed her flick into the roof of the net, giving the Indian defence no chance.
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The half-time dressing room talk from the coach seemed to have worked, but only for 15 minutes, as the Indian team attacked well in the third quarter, conceding no penalty corners and scoring the equalizer.
Despite losing Lalremsiami for two minutes due to a green card, India themselves earned a host of penalty corners. In the 38th minute, they tried a variation during one of them, with Navneet Kaur passing the injected ball to Rutuja Pisal, who was standing near the post and simply deflected the ball past the Chinese goalkeeper, making it 2-2.
China attacked with Ning Ma and Dan Wen as both players made two good runs in the Indian circle, but the Indian defence stood tall to thwart them.
However, in line with India’s inconsistency throughout the tournament, the fourth quarter was the opposite of the third one as China dominated and eventually found a winner.
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China attacked from the word go in the final quarter and earned the rewards in the 46th minute with another penalty corner, which India thwarted. The waves of Chinese attacks continued as they won two back-to-back PCs in the 49th minute, but the Indian defence proved to be strong again.
The Indian defence was finally broken in the 53rd minute as Wenyu Xu scored from the penalty corner to make it 3-2 and deliver the final blow to the Indian team.
The likes of Beauty Dung Dung, Navneet Kaur, Baljeet Kaur, and Deepika had their chances in the last five minutes but poor decision making meant that the Indian team will return from the European leg without a win, unlike the male counterparts, who won their final game and survived the relegation by finishing second last in the men’s Pro League points table.
Coach Harendra Singh will have a lot to ponder when he returns to India, with penalty corner defence, finishing abilities, and the indecisiveness in the opponent’s box being some of the major points.
