Fergus Kavanagh’s coaching experience will help women defenders get better, believes Sjoerd Marijne

After his session with the men’s defenders, two-time World Cup winner from Australia Fergus Kavanagh will now train the women defenders during a special camp. The Indian teams are focussing on the preparations ahead of the FIH Olympic Qualifiers which will be played later this year. Marijne is of the opinion that despite winning the FIH Women’s Series Finals in Hiroshima, there are areas where the team needs to improve further.

"We had a great tournament at the FIH Women's Series, but we still have to improve in certain areas. We are looking forward to fine-tune our defensive game with Fergus ahead of the Olympics Test event in August. His experience in coaching will surely help our defenders get better," Marijne was quoted as saying by the Hockey India.

Kavanagh will work with the 14-women defenders from July 15 at the SAI Centre in Bengaluru. The list of Indian women defenders includes Salima Tete, Deep Grace Ekka, Lilima Minz, Sushila Chanu Pukhrambam, Suman Devi Thoudam, Mahima Choudhary, Nisha, Gurjit Kaur, Rashmita Minz, Sunita Lakra, Manpreet Kaur, Nikki Pradhan, Karishma Yadav and Monika. The chief coach talked about the importance of strengthening the defence which will also be helpful in scoring goals as well.

"A good defensive unit can help the team create more attacking opportunities and subsequently help the side create more scoring opportunities. Therefore, it is imperative for our defenders to be on top of their game in big events such as the Olympics Test event and Olympic Qualifiers in October-November," explained the chief coach.