Indian women’s hockey team captain Salima Tete has identified fitness and mental toughness as key areas where the team needs to improve after a disappointing period following their historic fourth-place finish at the Tokyo Olympics.
Since their success in Tokyo, the team has failed to qualify for the Paris Olympics and has performed poorly in the FIH Pro League. Tete believes that a lack of fitness and mental resilience has contributed to these setbacks.
“We had to start from the beginning, from scratch,” said Tete. “Fitness was an area that Harendra sir [chief coach Harendra Singh] had pointed out and which needs a lot of work.”
Tete acknowledged that the team had neglected fitness in the past, but under Singh’s guidance, they have made significant progress. “We do work on our strength. I also noticed that we were not able to lift so much weight. The girls are now squatting more than 100kgs. This shows that we are working on our fitness.”
Mental toughness is another area where the team has focused on improving. They underwent an intensive mental strengthening and team building camp at the Indian Naval Academy in Kerala earlier this year.
“We didn’t have mental experience,” said Tete. “So, it [the camp] was very good. We didn’t know how it was going to be. It was very hard but we handled it.”
Tete believes that the team has learned valuable lessons from their recent setbacks and is determined to bounce back. “We have learned that we won’t get anything if we don’t work hard. We won’t be able to keep up.”
The team’s focus is now on qualifying for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics and finishing on the podium. “A new season has started for Indian women’s hockey,” said Tete. “The aim is to qualify for the Los Angeles Olympics and finish on the podium there.”
India will enter the upcoming Asian Champions Trophy as the defending champions, and Tete is confident that the team can retain their title. “We want to win this championship,” she said. “We don’t think about results, we just want to play our game.”
