The Indian women's hockey team's outstanding performance at the Olympic Games demonstrated that the sport is still alive and well in the country, according to assistant coach Ankitha B.S. While the men's hockey team won bronze, the women's hockey team lost in the bronze medal play-off to Great Britain.
“Now everyone is talking about hockey. In India, the talk surrounds only cricket. But after this event, each household is talking about hockey. Being a hockey player, coach I can say the marvellous performance by the women’s team has shown the world that hockey is still alive,” says, Ankitha.
“We might not have won a medal, but surely we have won hearts.” The Indian women's hockey team started poorly but improved toward the end of the group stages, making it to the last four after defeating world No. 2 Australia in the quarter-finals. It did, however, lose to Argentina in the semi-finals and then to Great Britain in the third-place play-off.
“After the defeat in the final stages, it was emotional for all coaches, supporting staff as well as players. We knew that what we had to achieve, we achieved. Opposition team players from Argentina and the United Kingdom, came back to our players after seeing them crying their hearts out after the loss,” added Ankitha.
“Being on the winning side, they told our girls that we have done well. The British team had initially thought the match against India would be a cakewalk. After the game, they described the performance of Indian women’s hockey team as ‘really amazing’ and they complimented by saying ‘great job’,” Ankitha recalled.
Each player was determined to prove herself after three defeats. “They were self-motivated, and we encouraged them,” she said. Ankitha is a Karnataka-born long-distance runner-turned-hockey player-turned-coach. On January 4, 2020, she was appointed as a national team coach. Since then, she has been working with the women's national hockey team.
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