India women’s hockey coach Sjoerd Marijne on Olympics: Let's be realistic

India women’s hockey team captain Rani Rampal has a tough task ahead

While the Indian women's hockey team's achievement of qualifying for the Tokyo Olympic Games has been widely celebrated, the expectations of a medal is unrealistic given the ranking of the team vis-a-vis the competition.

World No. 10 India have World No. 1 Netherlands, defending champions Great Britain (5), Germany (3), Ireland (9) and South Africa (16) for company in Group A, while Pool B comprises Australia (4), Argentina (2), New Zealand (6), Spain (7), China (11) and hosts Japan (13). With only four teams from each group qualifying for the quarter-finals, coach Sjoerd Marijne knows it's going to be tough.

Rankings matter

"Rankings matter because it's based on the points the teams have won in the past. And we know that only one team, South Africa, is ranked below us in our pool. But we will be approaching it match by match. For example, when we play our first match against the Netherlands, instead of looking at their ranking, we have to show what we are capable of doing. Also, that first match alone will not decide whether or not we will qualify for the quarter-finals. On the other hand, the higher-ranked teams will also be under pressure because they have to beat us," Marijne said in reply to a question from mid-day during a virtual media interaction on Thursday.

The coach also shot down unreasonable expectations from a team that will be competing in only its second consecutive Olympics, having qualified for the 2016 Rio Games after a gap of 36 years.

Sjoerd Marijne

‘Play to potential'

"I feel the expectations are very high from this Indian women's hockey team. If you are realistic, then only two countries - Japan and South Africa - are lower ranked than us. Our main focus is on reaching the quarter-finals and if we play every pool match to our potential, we should get there and beyond.

"We start against the best teams who are higher ranked so I think if we reach the quarters, ee have a good chance against any of the teams from the other pool like Argentina, Australia and New Zealand. And from there, anything is possible. We have trained to play eight matches [five league matches followed by a quarter-final, semi-final and final] and we hope to do that," concluded Marijne.

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