3 tactics India needs to pass German test

TO REACH PARIS, India will have to do something they haven't in close to a decade conquer Germany.

- MIHIR VASAVDA

The balls sichern-ing (ball-protecting, translated loosely), horizontal playing, all-controlling, rising from-the-ashes Germany.

When they last did that in regulation time, back in February 2015, India were nobody in women's hockey.

They barely played big teams, seldom won against them and the Olympics was something they'd only heard and seen but never experienced.

Yet, it was also a period of hope. A golden generation of players was expected to take the women's team to previously unforeseen heights, which they did. Step after giant step.

Rising first to become an Asian force, making it to consecutive Olympics after not gracing on the grandest stage for more than three decades and once there, coming within sniffing distance of a medal. They did all that and more.

But Germany remained a team out of India's reach. The win in Valencia that February afternoon was the only time India have beaten them in regulation time in the last 20 years as per the International Hockey Federation records.

When they met most recently, a month ago on December 19, 2023, Germany won comfortably; 3-1 the scoreline read.

This puts into perspective the enormous challenge Savita Punia - one of the two players in the current side who knows what it takes to beat Germany, Monika being the second and her team in the semifinals of the Olympic Qualifier.