Kamal Ghorui
HYDERABAD: Coach Sjoerd Marijne kicked off his second stint on an impressive note as the Indian women qualified for this year’s World Cup without breaking sweat.Though they lost 2-0 to England in the final of the FIH World Cup Qualifiers on Saturday night, the girls gave a good account of themselves.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!The Dutchman was impressed with his new batch, though it’s still work in progress. “We were focused and played a good match (final). But there are a lot of things we can improve, of course. This is our first tournament together,” said Marijne, adding that he wanted to see how the girls would react under pressure.“I saw how the girls reacted in the semifinal and in the final. I’m happy we played against a good team in the final. I saw their performance under pressure, which can’t be done in a training camp. You can’t create this pressure. So that was good. And then I could see a lot of things, which I keep for myself,” he added.The team, a mix of youth and experience, was fluid in the midfield and formidable at the back. But despite winning 37 penalty corners, a lot more than their rivals, they could convert only six. In the final, they had four. While the English converted their two PCs, India faltered. In the semifinals, they converted only one of the nine PCs.Marijne, however, was impressed with the way the girls created opportunities. “PC conversion is a concern. There is a lot of room for improvement. But I would worry if you don’t create chances. If you don’t create PCs, you’re not breaking lines, then we would really have a problem. But we created chances even under pressure. On the technical side, we need to be better. The decision-making needs to be better. In the circle, we need to take better positions,” the coach said.Apart from the hat-trick against Wales, drag-flicker Navneet Kaur missed several chances. But along with Lalremsiami, she led the attack well. The midfield of Salima Tete, Sunelita Toppo and Sakshi Rana did a good job of holding the ball and feeding the forwards.The fact that the defence conceded just 10 penalty corners in five matches and that England hardly penetrated the circle in the third and fourth quarters of the final showed how effective Indian defenders Sushila Chanu, Udita, Nikki Pradhan, Manisha and Ishika were throughout the week.Salima counted several positives. “With a number of new girls and a new coach, I thought it would be difficult. But I am happy with the way we adjusted. Whatever mistakes we made here, I am confident we will rectify them in the next tournament,” Salima added.
