'Focusing on situational awareness for better ball control'

BENGALURU: Indian women's hockey team forward Navneet Kaur is looking to improve her "situational awareness" in order to control the ball better ahead of a busy season, which also includes the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China next year.

Navneet said the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games was a historical campaign for her side as they clinched bronze after a 16-year drought.

The 26-year-old, who was instrumental in the attack during the memorable campaign, added she is keen to see herself playing a bigger role in the squad moving forward.

"I need to improve 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," said Navneet on Monday.

Speaking about the CWG campaign, she said, "The medal brought us great joy, even though our team was feeling a little down after the loss in the semifinal. It was special to see everyone in the squad motivating each other to concentrate on the bronze-medal game and you could feel the togetherness of the squad as we got laser focused for the bronze-medal tie. That moment was really surreal, especially for me."

Navneet also said the squad is looking at better team coordination as major events beckon.

"We are working on improving our team coordination. We are also working on our finishing as a squad so that we are extremely clinical when the chances come our way which was the only area, we lacked in at the World Cup and CWG 2022. 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."

Speaking about the upcoming tournaments and new faces in the side, she said, "The team's performances have been great recently. Now we are fully focused on the upcoming competitions and I am sure we will perform in the same unrelenting manner.

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 our young players in the team settle and gain much needed competitive experience at the highest level.

"As a senior player now, I look to help the youngsters with everything and anything on and off the field. We talk freely off the field and encourage open discussions and there is no such obligation of 'senior' and 'junior' players," Navneet added.