‘Triumph can inspire others’
Indian hockey’s high performance director Roelant Oltmans on Wednesday said the junior women’s team bronze medal finish at the junior women’s hockey World Cup would become a inspiring story to others.
“Their feat is inspiring because I feel every success inspires another success,” the Dutchman said during the felicitation of the junior women’s team, who won the country’s first-ever bronze medal at the quadrennial event in Monchengladbach, Germany.
India pipped England 3-2 on penalties in the bronze play-off match.
“Everyone in the country feels happy when our teams are performing. We are one big hockey family. All the players of the senior team were following the girls bronze medal play-off match against England and when they won we were all dancing and jumping in celebration,” Oltmans said.
Oltmans, who also looks after the women’s team, however feels the girls still have a long way to go to match the top teams at the senior level.
“We are no doubt improving but there is still a huge gap to bridge to match the top teams at the senior level. Almost the same team played in the FIH World League Round 3 in Rotterdam where we fared poorly. It proves that there is a huge difference between junior and senior level.
“But the talent is there and the girls have proved that in the World Cup,” he said.
Meanwhile, Hockey India on Wednesday rewarded each member of the team with a cash prize of `1 lakh each.
Apart from the players, chief coach Neil Hawgood, also received a cash reward of `1 lakh, while the other support staff were given `50,000 each. Striker Rani Rampal got an additional `1 lakh from HI for emerging as the player-of-the-tournament at the World Cup.
Cash prize by sports ministry too
Sports minister Jitendra Singh also announced a cash prize of `50,000 to each member of the team and `25,000 each for the coaches. On behalf of the hockey team, Chanu presented the minister a T-shirt and a hockey stick signed by all members of the squad.
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