Indian Women’s Hockey Defender Nikki Pradhan, who has played 112 matches for the national side, expressed that it’s very important for the Indian team to build on its brilliant performance at the Tokyo Games in the upcoming months. The Indian Women’s Hockey Team recorded its best-ever finish at the Olympic Games (fourth place) earlier this year.
“I think the way we fought against the best teams in the world showed our hunger and determination to do well at the biggest of stages. However, we still have a lot to prove in the future. It’s very important for us to build on our fantastic performance at the Tokyo Games and keep becoming better as a side with each match we play in the future,” said the 28-year-old.
When asked about the team’s future targets, Pradhan said, “We are definitely looking to win as many tournaments as possible. Our number one goal is to be the best side in the world and we still have a long way to go. We are going to take it one tournament at a time and focus on building our skills on the pitch. We definitely have the talent to take on any side in the world at the moment,” said the Defender.
The Indian Women’s core-group got together for their first Senior Women’s National Coaching Camp at the SAI, Bengaluru post their magnificent run at the Tokyo Games on 13th September 2021. Pradhan expressed that the team is working on a few aspects which they had noted down during the Olympics.
“It’s very important for us to learn from our mistakes and we are focusing on all the mistakes we made at the Tokyo Games during our current National Coaching Camp. It’s great to be back in camp after a break and building ourselves as players again. We noted down some key aspects during the Olympics that we need to work on and we are working on each one of them one by one during the National Coaching Camp,” said the 27-year-old.
