The Indian men’s and women’s hockey teams may have contrasting paths at the , beginning in Belgium and the Netherlands on August 15, but their ultimate aim is the same – a historic podium finish.
With only two teams from each of the four pools (total 16 teams in either competition) set to advance to the upper tier, while the bottom two teams will head into the classification segment, Harmanpreet Singh & Co (World No. 8) seem comfortably placed as the second highest ranked team in Pool D with England (No. 3), Pakistan (No. 12) and Wales (No. 15) for company. However, the Salima Tete-led women’s team (No. 9) will have to contend with the likes of China (No. 4), England (No. 7), and South Africa (No. 18) in their Pool D.
More pressure on men
Besides this, history also seems to add its own dose of pressure on the men when compared to that on women. The Indian men’s team, which has been a part of each of the 15 editions so far, has finished on the podium thrice – third place in the inaugural edition at Barcelona in 1971, second place at Amstelveen in 1973 and first place at Kuala Lumpur in 1975. ‘s women, meanwhile, who have not been a part of the competition on seven occasions out of a total of 15, have a best finish of fourth place, at the inaugural edition in 1974 at Mandelieu, France.
The pressure’s clearly on both teams, but probably a tad more on Harmanpreet and his boys. The world-class drag-flicker and defender, though, preferred to look at it as motivation instead. “I don’t look at it as podium pressure. I look at it as motivation,” Harmanpreet, 30, told mid-day on Tuesday, going on to cite the example of the Indian men winning historic back-to-back Olympic bronze medals at Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024. “This [podium pressure] actually motivates us because just as we won India’s first Olympic hockey medal after a gap of 41 years, similarly, since we have not won the hockey World Cup in so many years [51], this definitely is a good opportunity for us to achieve success just as we did with back-to-back Olympic medals. This team has trained well and certainly believes we can bring home the trophy once again for our passionate fans,” added Harmanpreet.
Tough group for Indian women
Meanwhile, India women’s captain Salima Tete admits her girls are in a tough group, but is equally confident that they can get through it. “No team is easy at a World Cup, but though we have some tough teams in our pool like China, England, and South Africa, we are all ready to fight it out, right from the first second till the last, to do well,” Tete, 24, told mid-day on Tuesday.
Tete also admitted that though nerves could be a factor at such a big stage, she has done her best to motivate her team. “We always discuss among ourselves at meetings or even in the team bus, that we need to finish on the podium anyhow. I’ve told the girls to play without inhibitions. If we make mistakes, so be it, because unless we make mistakes, we won’t learn. Also, mistakes help us improve and when we improve, we start enjoying the experience and automatically start playing well. This bunch has been playing good hockey and can beat any team. We didn’t play well at the last World Cup [across the last two editions, in 2018 and 2022, the Indian women’s team won just two out of 11 matches], but this time it will be different. Hum jaan laga denge [we will give our life] in an attempt to get on that podium,” concluded Tete.