Ready to play any team in Olympic qualifier: Sjoerd Marijne

For India’s men’s and women’s hockey teams, the Olympics test event provided an opportunity to assess their preparedness for the all-important qualifier at home. The test event offered no points or qualification places for Tokyo. Reflecting on his team’s performance, Marijne said the biggest positive for him was the improved fitness level of his wards.

However, their Olympic fate will be decided by how the teams fare at the final qualifier in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, which is likely to be held in October (26-27) or November (2-3). India will come to know about their opponents on September 9 when the updated world rankings are released.

The Indian men’s hockey team looks in good shape and space heading into the qualifier. It won’t be easy, but we are ready to play any side or opponent. We still have some time on our hand. We will now be leaving for England where we’ll be playing a five-match series against the Great Britain side. It would be challenging for sure, but the most important part is to qualify for the Olympics next year, women team’s head coach, Sjoerd Marijne.

The men’s team will play an away five-match series against Belgium, before heading back home for the qualifier. The Indian team is likely to draw either of the three – Malaysia, France or Ireland – for the qualifier.

Performance wise, we should have scored more goals in the last two matches against China and Japan. Against Australia, we did pretty well to hold them to a draw. Overall, I am satisfied.

The tournament provided a good opportunity for them to play in field hockey olympics surface and the conditions. Marijne said the turf was fast-paced and it helped the drag-flickers. The pitch was good and we enjoyed playing on it. Sometimes, the ball was spinning off the turf. The drag-flickers did well scoring a few goals. (more on India field hockey here)