Savita admitted that next month's World Cup qualifier is a "do-or-die situation" for India. (X/HockeyIndia)
Veteran goalkeeper Savita Punia has blamed “poor fitness” as the reason behind the Indian women’s hockey team’s below-par showing last year but with Sjoerd Marijne back as chief coach, she exuded confidence of qualifying for this year’s World Cup through next month’s qualifiers in Hyderabad.
Indian women failed to directly qualify for the World Cup to be held in Belgium and the Netherlands in August this year through the Asia Cup, and will now have to play the qualifiers in Hyderabad from March 8 to 14. The other team in the tournament are England, Scotland, Korea, Italy, Uruguay, Wales, and Austria.
Top three teams from each qualifier will make it to the World Cup, along with the fourth highest-ranked sides in both the competitions.
“Sports has its ups and downs, and last year was one such period. The biggest reason was that our fitness was lacking somewhere. Fitness was a major factor behind our good performance at the Tokyo Olympics,” Savita told PTI Bhasha in an interview.
“Coaches Sjoerd (Marijne), Janneke (Schopman) and scientific advisor Wayne (Lombard) worked hard on that aspect,” she said.
“Only the top teams participate in the Olympics, and fitness is crucial to competing with them. Everyone knows the prowess of Indian hockey but in 2016 Rio Olympics, we were let down by fitness. We improved on this in Tokyo, but of late our fitness level has declined.” After finishing a historic fourth at the Tokyo Olympics, the Indian women failed to sustain the momentum and 2025 saw them finish last in the FIH Pro League with 10 points from 16 matches, leading to their relegation to the FIH Nations Cup.
Savita admitted that next month’s World Cup qualifier is a “do-or-die situation” for India.
“Our team was good before and is good even today. We got the trainer we asked for, the coach we wanted, and the team atmosphere is very good,” Savita, who was selected for the Padma Shri award this year, said.
“The entire team knows that the World Cup qualifier is a do-or-die situation for us, but we are confident that we have the kind of game we need to win the tournament,” the custodian, with over 300 international caps, said.
On the challenges ahead, she said getting their spot back in the FIH Pro League is crucial.
“It’s a big blow to be eliminated from the Pro League, and now we have to qualify for it by winning the Nations Cup. We can play against the top eight teams in the world through this, which will provide great experience,” said the 35-year-old former captain.
“This year also has the World Cup and the Asian Games. There’s very little time between the two tournaments, so we’ll have to work on our fitness. We have silver and bronze in the Asian Games, but now we’re eyeing gold to directly qualify for the Los Angeles Olympics.
“We’ll face challenge from China in the Asian Games, but we know their strengths and weaknesses. We have to focus on our strength. With this philosophy, we qualified for the Pro League by winning the Nations Cup, and we will continue to do so.” The Indian women’s team, which qualified for the Olympics after 36 years in Rio, was eliminated in the group stage but finished a historic fourth in Tokyo under coach Marijne.
The 51-year-old Dutchman has now rejoined the Indian team after serving as coach from 2017 to 2021, following the resignation of Harendra Singh.
“Sjoerd motivates us a lot and maintains a positive atmosphere. He is a very demanding coach on the field and instills a sense of responsibility in the players,” Savita said.
“If I talk about myself, I thought my career was almost over in 2017 after our poor performance at the Rio Olympics. But he gave me a chance and from there, I started enjoying my goalkeeping. His confidence helped me perform well.”
