- Harendra Singh, the Indian women's hockey coach, has come under fire for his team's subpar FIH Pro League play
- He points out that time and game management are two crucial areas that require work
- To become a powerful force in international hockey, the coach highlights the necessity of strategic improvement
Struggling Indian women's hockey team head coach Harendra Singh has accepted major deficiencies in the team's performance in this year's FIH Pro League campaign, attributing time and match management as important areas for improvement.
India obtained just a single draw and lost seven matches in the European phase of the tournament, ending at the bottom of the league and in danger of relegation to the FIH Nation's Cup. They earned their sole point from a 2-2 draw with Argentina, though they ultimately lost the penalty shootout.
In an online media interaction, Harendra Singh described the team's woes, particularly the unavailability of many seasoned players due to injuries, particularly in the defence. "It's a new team with many seasoned players missing, especially in defence," he stated.
"We need to manage the game and the time. To do that, we have to practice situations and see how the team responds — especially inexperienced defenders. If they don't deliver, we'll have to depend on the seniors." He emphasized that there were "no excuses" for the team's performance.
Harendra also pointed out penalty corner defence as another area that needed major attention. "PC defending has to be given more attention. We lacked defenders such as Udita and Nikki Pradhan in the European leg, and that impacted our backline. We need to make our defence stronger in the future," he said.
