Just like the three decades prior, the competition at the 2023 Junior Hockey Women's Asia Cup came down to China, Japan, South Korea and India making it to the semifinals for the sixth consecutive time. India, who qualified for the final only once before and never won the tournament, emerged champions after beating South Korea in the final.
Credit where it is deserved as India crossed the final hurdle to win the title for the first time, but for women's hockey and head coach Janneke Schopman, this was a big positive - not only in terms of adding depth to the senior squad but also the benefit of players playing and performing under pressure.
The problems facing India's senior women's hockey team
Schopman, who also coached the junior side in Japan, has had mixed results so far with the senior team under-performing at the 2022 World Cup but also clinching the bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games and winning the FIH Nations Cup.
Recently, they played five matches in Australia, winning just once. While the team plays an attacking style of hockey, converting chances has been their biggest issue over the past year or so.
The current senior team is not perfect - with heavy dependence on the likes of Vandana Katariya and Gurjit Kaur to score. These gaps can be filled by the junior players who showed their calibre at the Asia Cup.
Which youngsters can make the jump?
Five of the 18 from the junior Asia Cup squad have been included in the 33-member senior camp for the Asian Games -- Jyoti Chhatri, Deepika, Mumtaz Khan, Sunelita Toppo and Vaishnavi Vitthal Phalke. Not all of them will make the final squad, but it's worth noting how they performed in the Asia Cup.
Attackers Deepika (7), Mumtaz (6), Toppo (5) and Phalke (3) combined to score 21 goals in the tournament. The likes of Deepika and Neelam did well to score goals from penalty corners, others contributed effectively with field goals. Mumtaz, Toppo and Phalke scored the bulk of the field goals, which showed that this team was not dependent on penalty corners alone.
It was a team-first performance that greatly pleased Schopman.
"I did make a point to discuss with the girls that the last thing you want to think about yourselves is to be the best you have ever been because it's not going to work," Schopman told ESPN. "It's just putting more pressure on yourself. During the tournament I felt like other teams have better talent maybe but what I'm really pleased with how each player in the team contributed and how they came together. We were not busy with 'I have to be the best player' but more 'what can I do to help the team better'. We had players who were great in the final but had a pretty bad semifinal. That didn't matter for our team. They all stood up."
A historic win that reverberates across the Nation.
The Indian Junior Women's Team emerges victorious in the Women's Junior Asia Cup 2023, radiating strength and grace.#HockeyIndia #IndiaKaGame #AsiaCup2023 pic.twitter.com/bZ7gqXjkS2
- Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) June 11, 2023
A difficult step up
However, it's obvious that it takes a lot to step up from the junior level and perform consistently for the senior team.
"There are some basic stuff - like they have to stay fit and healthy. They have to do the work off the field to make sure they are in their best shape. That is also regarding mindset and also mindfulness," Schopman said when asked about how the five junior players can step up to be in the main squad. "They are learning all that from the senior players. They all found a way to show up themselves in the matches and I was really, really happy with that."
The players also seem to understand this. They voice the need to keep working to make improvements. "I want to focus on my scoring. I feel I can still make significant improvements when it comes to scoring," Toppo, who scored the winning goal against Japan in the semifinal, said. Annu, who finished the tournament with the highest numbers of goals (9), said her fitness is a concern. "Mujhe jyada running karni padegi," she said (I need to run more).
Cause for optimism
One aspect that impressed Schopman was her team's showing against the lower-ranked teams, where their discipline allowed them to break down the defences and score goals. This is something she has always asked the senior team to implement in their game as well.
"I thought the junior team adopted quite a lot of things that the seniors do well. That is fighting as a unit. I would say that against the lower ranked teams, our junior team played with a lot of discipline. That resulted in a lot a goals. I told the same thing to the senior team here in my first session (in the camp). You just have to stick to the plan. Against Uzbekistan scoring 22 goals was pretty impressive. Same against Chinese Taipei, we stuck to the plan and this is important for the Asian Games as well."
The lack of a domestic league (something like Hockey India League) prevents Indian youngsters from competing against the world's best players. This batch of junior players not only impressed against the best teams in Asia but also came home with the title. By integrating them into the senior setup early, Hockey India and the women's team management ought to make this Jr. Asia Cup victory count for something more than silverware.