FIH Olympic Qualifiers | More PC conversion chances have made me more confident, says Gurjit Kaur

10/23/2019

Hockey India

Indian women’s hockey team player Gurjit Kaur has said that the opportunities to take penalty corners for the senior team have made her more confident with the drag-flicks. Gurjit is eager to take on the USA team when the Indian women will play their FIH Olympic Qualifiers game next month.

With drag-flick becoming an extremely important skill for all the top hockey teams among both men and women, the Indian women’s team would be delighted to have Gurjit Kaur in their side. The girl from Amritsar has been a star for the team since her debut back in 2014 and her penalty corner conversions have helped the team to come out of troubled waters on many occasions. She talked more about her drag-flicking skills and the role that she is now having in the senior team.

“I used to do drag-flick before as well but I never used to get a chance because of the senior players. Now that I am getting more chances, I am becoming more confident and even the team has given me confidence so it feels really nice. When we get a PC, the team supports me by saying that you need to score a goal and that gives me a lot of confidence. I hope to continue in that in the future as well,” Gurjit told SportsCafe.

The Indian women’s team will be playing at home after a long time and this will be the first time when Gurjit will get a chance to represent India in the country. Both the matches will be played at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, a venue that is famous in terms of crowd attendance. With the women’s and men’s matches to be played on the first two days of November, it is expected that all the matches will be packed houses at the Kalinga Stadium. The Punjab defender has said that the players are motivated to come up with a good show in front of their supporters.

“We had never played in India before and now are going to do that so it is a great feeling for all of us. The practice sessions are also going on well and are quite motivated. We are getting ready for the two matches during the training camp here and keeping that in mind, I can say that we are going to do really well and we are going to qualify,” the 24-year-old mentioned.

The 18-member Indian team under the leadership of Rani Rampal was announced a few days ago in Bhubaneswar and the players are now attending the pre-tournament camp at the Kalinga Stadium under the watchful eyes of coach Sjoerd Marijne. When asked about the impact of coach Marijne on the Indian girls, Gurjit replied, “He (Marijne) makes the player play how she wants to and he tells us a lot of positive things and whenever one has a problem, he calmly explains them and he motivates them. Coach gives up tips regarding what to do and what not to which is very beneficial for us.”

“Our team is set and as a team improves, the coach thinks that the players are set. Everybody works hard in the camp and the coach can only select 18 players which is a difficult job. There needs to be unity and discipline in the team and we have that and everyone supports each and we play well because of that support.”

In order to get proper match practice before the important Olympic Qualifier games, India had toured England and played five matches against Great Britain. The Indian girls managed to win only one game and lost one in that tour and Gurjit mentioned that the tour gave them a lot of confidence ahead of the two crucial ties against the world no. 13 side USA.

“Great Britain is really a good team but we had good results there. That has given us a lot of confidence and with the same, we are going to play against the USA. We have learned a lot and also have improved,” explained the drag-flicker.

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