Indian women's hockey team starts fresh in FIH Pro League 2023-24

The Indian women's hockey team will have to leave behind the disastrous night in Ranchi last month to start fresh in the 2023-24 season of the FIH Hockey Pro League.

After failing to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics, the women's team will open their FIH Pro League campaign against China tomorrow in Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneshwar.

"We won't get the Olympics back but we can only move forward and that is our plan here, to move forward, to play to our strengths, and to show that we can play well," coach Janneke Schopman told media before the tournament opener.

"As a team, we are hurting still, it has been a tough two weeks. We have done a lot of talking and thinking about what happened and why it happened. We want to show that we are a good team and we can play against good teams as well," she added further.

India will play a total of eight matches against different opponents in two legs of the Pro League at Bhubaneshwar and Rourkela.

Addressing the penalty corner issue

The biggest thorn in this Indian side and one of the reasons behind the poor show in Olympic qualifiers is the lack of drag flickers to convert the penalty corner issue.

Janneke Schopman insisted on having a more effective talent development program in the country to prepare the drag flickers.

"We need potentially more depth in our penalty corner. That is a concern in women's hockey in India," Schopman said.

"If you look at any other country in the top 10, they have 5-6 drag flickers and we do not. So there's work that needs to be happening in talent development," she added further.

Gurjit Kaur has returned to the side while youngster Deepika will look to take the drag-flicker spot after the retirement of experienced defender Deep Grace Ekka.

India faces tough opponents

It will be truly a test for the Indian team as they will be up against China, the US, the Netherlands, and Australia. All these countries have beaten India in the past with the US beating recently in the Olympic qualifiers.

"In the Pro League we have the opportunity to see how we fare against some of the best teams in the world, like the Netherlands and Australia, the exciting thing is that we are up against these teams and they are not practice matches, it is hugely important for them before the Olympics and it will be great to take them on," said Schopman on the quality of opponents.

"I think we can score goals and defend well but we are facing good teams and it will be interesting to see how it unfolds," she added further.

India will take on reigning Asian Games Champions China in their first game, followed by a clash with the Netherlands on Sunday. They will face off against Australia on February 7 before playing their last game in Bhubaneswar against the United States on February 9.