Navneet Kau who is one of the pillars of the Indian women’s hockey team recently expressed in an interview that the Indian teams need to hold their nerves in tough matches to have any chance at the Tokyo Olympics. The forward who has appeared 79 times for the Indian team pointed out how important it is to keep calm while taking big decisions at such a quadrennial event.
“We all have the skills and talent to take on the best in the world, however, making key decisions on the pitch is a crucial factor for any side. Therefore, it will be very important for us to stay calm during crunch situations and make decisions to the best of our abilities,” said the 25-year-old.
“Even one wrong pass could hurt us deeply, therefore, we have to ensure that we are thinking clearly and not making too many unforced errors on the pitch during the Olympics,” she went on adding.
Kaur also expressed the importance of the team management who are making sure that every player in the team are aware of their specific role properly.
“It’s very important for all of us to be clear about our roles on the pitch as there should be no confusion amongst the players on game day. The coaches and captain have been ensuring that everyone knows about their roles and how they can execute their plans so that we coordinate well on the pitch during matches. The Olympics is going to be a big challenge for us, and we have to play at our absolute best to garner good results,” she highlighted.
The forward also revealed how the Indian team is sweating it out in their training session where they are put in match-like situations and they have to react. It helps the players to get an essence of the game and keeps them charged up for the main event.
“We are carrying out high-intensity training at the moment. We try to simulate match situations during practice and give everything we have during training sessions. We are very confident about our abilities and it’s just about executing our plans properly on gameday. If we play to our potential, we will surely do very well in Tokyo,” Navneet Kaur concluded.
