Despite the gloom and doom of the missed opportunities, one of the positives for India has been the inclusion of their vice-captain Vandana Kataria, who missed out on the Olympic Qualifiers because of a cheekbone fracture. with the experience of more than 300 fixtures for India, her presence will make India’s attack more potent. Despite the continuous efforts from the likes of Salima Tete and Neha Goyal, India could not score a goal in the bronze medal match against Japan. Kataria’s inclusion would certainly help to convert those chances into goals. The addition of the local player, Jyoti Chhatri, fresh off the silver medal win in the Women’s Hockey5s World Cup in Oman, could also help the team as the 20-year-old has proved her mettle on different levels.

India will start the campaign against Asian Games gold medalist China, followed by a fixture against no. 1 ranked Netherlands. Before moving to Rourkela for the second leg of the Pro League, India will face Australia and the USA in Bhubaneswar. The hosts will face all four opponents again in the second leg of the tournament, starting from February 12. It is a great opportunity for the eighth-ranked India to see how far they have come against some of the top-ranked teams like the Netherlands and Australia. Schopman echoed the similar sentiments.

“I have said this before… unfortunately, in the last year we haven’t played very many matches that mattered to be completely honest. We were not in the Pro League. From January to September we maybe played four official matches. In the Pro League, you play 16. In the Pro League, we have the opportunity to see how we fare against some of the best teams in the world. The exciting thing is that we are up against these teams and they are not practice matches, it is hugely important for them before the Olympics and it will be great to take them on,” the coach underlined.