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Indian women's hockey team forward Navneet Kaur has stated that she is ready to embrace a bigger role in the Indian team.
The Indian team recently enjoyed a historic Commonwealth Games 2022 (CWG) campaign, winning a bronze medal. By doing so, they ended a 16-year medal drought at the quadrennial Games.
After the CWG high, the Indian women's hockey team is solely focused on the future. They have already put in place certain practices that will prove vital in helping the team move forward and improve.
Navneet Kaur gave an insight into the team’s future ambitions and how she sees herself playing a bigger role in the squad moving forward. She said:
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“The medal at the Commonwealth Games 2022, brought us great joy as a team, even though our team was feeling a little down after the loss in the semi-final.”
Kaur added:
“It was special to see that everyone in the squad motivated each other to concentrate on the bronze medal game and you could feel the togetherness of the squad as we focused on the bronze medal tie. That moment was really surreal, especially for me.”
Read: Experienced midfielder Navjot Kaur joins Indian women's hockey team at SAI Centre in Bengaluru
The 26-year-old ace went on to talk about areas she is looking to improve moving forward as a player.
“I need to improve on my situational awareness, so that I get better at controlling the ball and in turn get better at controlling the tempo of the game, because then I can play at my pace and choose moments in the game to either slow the tempo down or raise it according to the situation,” Navneet Kaur added.
Navneet Kaur throws light on areas of improvement
Navneet Kaur said the Indian team is working a lot to put all their learnings from CWG 2022 into use in future tournaments. The team has been camping at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) Center in Bengaluru and the players are leaving no stone unturned in the national camp.
“We are working on improving our team coordination. We are also working on our finishing as a squad to become extremely clinical when the chances come our way, which was the only area we lacked in at the World Cup and CWG 2022,” she said.
“As a squad we have identified these areas and have already started working on improving them so that we are ready before the next tournament comes around.”
Navneet Kaur also spoke about what she expects from the team moving forward while reflecting on their recent performances. She said:
“The team’s performances have been great recently. We are now fully focused on the upcoming competitions and I am sure we will perform in the same unrelenting manner.”
Kaur added:
“The young players have settled into the team really well and their integration in the squad is going smoothly, the best part of which is that young players are getting so many opportunities in international competitions which will help them improve drastically in very little time, which I feel we should continue doing because it it future proofs helps young players in the team settle and gain much needed competitive experience at the highest level.”
Navneet Kaur concluded by stating that there is no senior-junior divide in the team and that communication between the players has been open. This could go a long way in India putting in even better performances in the future following the highs of CWG 2022.
