“The team’s performance over last 6-7 months has been excellent”: Hockey India president Tirkey after girls’s Asian Games gold

Bhubaneswar (Odisha) [India], October 2 (ANI): Hockey India president Dilip Tirkey hailed the ladies’s workforce for his or her landmark gold medal win on the ongoing Asian Games, mentioning the advance of their sport over previous few months and distinctive performances in each attacking and defensive fronts.

The Indian girls’s hockey workforce produced a historic efficiency on Friday, defeating reigning Asian champions China 1-0 to clinch the gold medal and finish a 44-year look forward to an Asian Games medal in Aichi-Nagoya. Ranked No. 8 on the earth, India shocked World No. 4 China in a fiercely contested remaining, with Lalremsiami scoring the decisive purpose within the tenth minute by way of a area purpose. The triumph marks India’s first girls’s hockey medal on the Asian Games since 1982, when the workforce final stood on the rostrum.

Speaking to ANI after the win, Tirkey mentioned, ‘The girls have now made historical past after 44 years. We final received in Delhi again in 1982. As the President of Hockey India, I really feel extremely comfortable immediately, seeing the arduous work the women have put in over the previous few years lastly bearing fruit. You witnessed their magnificent efficiency throughout the World Cup. The workforce stood tall towards top-tier opponents, and immediately, they’re Asian champions. The workforce’s efficiency over the past six or seven months has been actually glorious…We can see a marked enchancment within the workforce’s health, and they’re mentally very robust.’

‘The kids are enjoying their attacking sport fearlessly. Players scored nice objectives, and Savita made good saves. They are enjoying attacking hockey proper as much as the ultimate moments, and the protection has been excellent as properly. Today, the workforce is enjoying in a mode the place the forwards additionally contribute to the protection. This demonstrates that the workforce is bodily very match. I’m personally delighted with the workforce’s efficiency; it has been glorious. I wish to congratulate all the workforce,’ he added. 

Tirkey additionally credited the revived Hockey India League (HIL), revived since 2024-25 season, for the advance and improvement of ladies’s workforce sport. 

‘Over final previous two years, Hockey India League has been revived once more and a number of the finest gamers have performed it. I can see some improvement in our girls’s workforce’s sport due to it. We managed to maintain China silent and didn’t permit them to attain a purpose for such a very long time. Our defence regarded actually robust. It is such a matter of satisfaction,’ he added. 

This is India’s 76th medal on the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, with 16 golds, 25 silver medals and 35 bronze medals.

The gold medal additionally brings a big reward for the Indian workforce, because the victory secures direct qualification for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.

The achievement comes after a troublesome Olympic cycle for the Indian girls’s hockey workforce, which narrowly missed out on qualification for the Paris 2024 Olympics following its spectacular fourth-place end on the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

India’s marketing campaign was additionally highlighted by a prolific goalscoring effort. Deepika Sehrawat completed because the event’s high goalscorer with 21 objectives, adopted by teammate Navneet Kaur with 10 objectives, whereas China’s Jiaqi Zhong scored 9.

After 4 many years of ready, Indian girls’s hockey has as soon as once more reached the highest of Asia. (ANI)