Is the Indian Women’s Hockey Team Playing Adequate Number of International Matches?

The Indian women’s hockey team is going through a bit of ‘quiet time’ and hasn’t quite been able to capture the ‘news landscape’ like their men counterparts have. We all know the Asian Champions Trophy is round the corner, but if we rewind the entire 2024 one thing that does show up is that the national women’s hockey team have not been engaged in ‘international hockey action’ as they would have liked for more than five months – the Blueskirts’ last international engagement was the FIH Pro League tie against Great Britain at London on June 9, 2024 – a game they had lost narrowly 2-3.

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The next international assignment is the upcoming the Asian Champions Trophy that would be played at Rajgir from November 11-20 – this event would be only the third international tournament for the Indian hockey eves in whole of year 2024 – clearly – just three international tournaments in a year is not an ideal international exposure for the national team.

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The Blueskirts kickstarted 2024 featuring in the Olympic Qualifiers at Ranchi and failed to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics. It is understandable that playing in the Olympics would have not only ensured more international exposure but also more international games. The Indian hockey eves participated in the 2023-24 Pro League across multiple venues – if you do a deep dive one does understand that the team have played a total of 20 games (4 in the Olympic Qualifiers and 16 in the Pro League) but what is an area to ponder about is the fact that the team have featured in just three tournaments – one in January – Pro League one leg in February, Pro League Europe legs in May-June and one in November with a window gap between these tournaments.

If we factor in the Asian Champions Trophy (assuming they would make it to the final) and that would make it a total of 27 international matches for the whole of 2024 spread across three tournaments with long gaps between them. It surely calls for some degree of course correction, in terms of scheduling international games.

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Of course, the national team is working hard at the national camp at SAI, Bengaluru and is believed to be much more fitter and injury-free than ever before, but one can never discount the importance of more international games exposure. As they say no amount of training drills can be a substitute for any match experience. 27 international games may sound ok to some, but when we realize it is just 3 international tournaments in one year, there is surely more scope to have more international engagements for the national women’s hockey team.

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Celebrated Dutch hockey coach Paul Van Ass feels that the number of internationals games by the national team can surely go up. “I don’t think they are playing enough international games. Indian men are doing better of course, playing more number of international matches. Ideally, if you ask me playing 20 international games and 20 at the domestic level in a year is more than just ideal. I’m sure with the Hockey India League in place, Indian women would be playing more games at the domestic level and that would a big help to the girls.”