Medal at Olympics tough but possible, says Marijne
MUMBAI: “If you try to reach for the stars, you will fall on the highest mountain but if you want to be on the mountain, you will fall on the ground.” That’s why Sjoerd Marijne, chief coach of the Indian women’s hockey team, wants his girls to dream big at next year’s Tokyo Olympics. If they aim for gold, only then will they win a medal, reasons the Dutchman, now in his second stint with the team.
India have been drawn in the tough Pool A for the Olympics. They will play world No. 1 Netherlands, defending champions Great Britain, Germany, 2018 World Cup runners-up Ireland and South Africa. Pool B includes world No. 2 Australia, Argentina, New Zealand, Spain, China and Japan. The preliminary league will be played in a round-robin format, with the top four teams from each group qualifying for crossover quarter-finals.
Though, on paper, the coach’s target may look a bit out of reach for a team ranked ninth in the world, his reasoning is flawless.
“You go to the Olympics with one thing in your mind—to win a medal. Of course there is nothing more beautiful than the gold medal, so we are going there to win a medal. I think that is the mindset we must have. I am not saying we are going to win, but only saying that we can achieve it,” Marijne told HT over phone from Bangalore, where the team is stationed for a four-week physical conditioning camp.
Though India are the second lowest ranked team in the pool, Marijne is still confident of a good showing in Tokyo. “We are the second lowest ranked team in our pool but it doesn’t mean that we feel like that. It is also about how we play, how confident we are and (whether) we have the confidence to play against better countries.
“The match against Netherlands will be tough. Normally, they are the better team and have the advantage over us but it will be good to see how we do against them. I don’t believe that match will decide where we finish at the Olympics because there are more opportunities. But yeah, I see it as a good challenge,” said Marijne.
The first target for India will be to qualify for quarter-finals. “Yes, that is the first target. We will take things match by match. It is also about how good your players are on that particular day and how good are the opponents. We will have to prepare well,” Marijne said. Getting the better of tough opponents—the United States—in the Olympic qualifiers a few weeks back has made him more hopeful of his team’s chances, Marijne admitted. India qualified on the basis of aggregate goals (6-5) after skipper Rani Rampal scored the all-important goal 10 minutes from time.
“I am happy with the resilience the team showed (in qualifiers) and we have to continue with that and make better use of the chances that we get. We were good in the first match but not so good in the second. But we qualified. We saw the match back and saw the points we can improve on. One of the things is how we start the match. We will work hard on it.”
WORLD CUP IN INDIA
BHUBANESWAR: The 2023 Men’s Hockey World Cup will be held in Bhubaneswar and Rourkela.
India will host the Men’s Hockey World Cup for the second consecutive time after the country was picked to stage the game’s showpiece event in 2023 by the International Hockey Federation (FIH) earlier this month.
The tournament will be held from January 13 to 29.