Women's FIH Pro League: 'India Have To Work Hard On Penalty Corners,' Says Former Captain Pritam Rani Siwach

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Whether it was the Asian Games last year or the Olympic qualifiers in Ranchi, the Indian women's hockey team's penalty corners conversion have been the main headache for them.

The inability to convert was one of the reasons the side struggled at last month's Olympic Qualifiers, eventually missing the bus for the Paris Games 2024. The Indian women's hockey team's next big challenge is the Women's FIH Pro League in Bhubaneswar. Their journey kicks off with a thrilling clash against China today.

Speaking exclusively to myKhel on this topic, former Indian women's hockey team captain Pritam Rani Siwach shed light on India's penalty corner conversion.

"Penalty corner plays a crucial role in the match, and while observing the Olympic Qualifiers matches from the stands, I noticed that the Indian team didn't practice enough for penalty corners and focused less on them during training. Due to this, we are not going to the Olympics," said Siwach.

Last year, before the FIH Hockey Olympic qualifiers, former Indian legendary drag flicker Rupinder Pal Singh conducted a drag flicking camp for the Indian women's team.

"I don't know how much time Rupinder Pal Singh has spent training the Indian team. We should practice at least one and a half hours in penalty corners." said the 49-year-old Pritam Siwach.

Pritam Rani Siwach won a silver medal in the 1998 Asian Games and a gold medal in the 2002 Commonwealth Games. She also mentioned that during her time, the team regularly practiced penalty corners for one and a half hours.

"When we used to play, we practiced for one and a half hours for the penalty corners, and we also got the result. We won medals in the 1998 Asian Games and the 2002 Commonwealth Games," she said.

The Dronacharya awardee, Pritam, also said that the Indian team has to work on penalty corner conversions daily.

"It will not be enough to do this one day; you will have to practice penalty corners every day. The more you practice, the better you become because we are able to create penalty corners but are not able to convert them," she said.

Veteran drag flicker Gurjit Kaur is also making a comeback in the team, but can she rectify the problem of India's penalty corner conversion? The 28-year-old, Gurjit, last played for India during their tour of Australia and missed the Asian Games, Asian Champions Trophy, and the Olympic qualifiers.

"Now, Gurjit Kaur is back in the team and it's a good news, and she was not present in the Olympic qualifiers. India has to work on penalty corners," Pritam Rani Siwach signed off.