After winning the bronze medal at the Doha Asian Games in December, it has been virtually an off-season for the Indian women's hockey team. With a tough season which includes the Asia Cup as well as Test matches abroad against Japan and Italy coming up, the Indian women are leaving no stone unturned in their preparations to get back into the action with 36 probables undergoing a training camp which began on May 3 and will continue till June 15 at the SAI Southern Centre in Bangalore.
"The primary focus of the camp is to get the players back into the groove. It's been almost five months since they played last. That is precisely why we have arranged such a lengthy camp. The players will get sufficient time to shrug off the rustiness," said A B Subbaiah, the goalkeeping coach of the team, who is overseeing the camp.
Subbaiah, who is being assisted by Vasu Thapliyal, Y S Chauhan and Narendra Saini, has his priorities clear.
"My immediate task is ensure that we qualify for the Olympics. We have the Test series against Japan and Italy coming up next month.
“And after that we will be defending the Asia Cup. So by the time we play the Olympic qualifiers next year, our team should be able to give off our best. This camp is mainly intended to improve all the set piece skills.
“We show them video clippings of the matches we lost and come out with a plan so as to learn from past mistakes".
Unlike their male counterparts, the women's team had a reasonable season last year, a point that Subbaiah chose to highlight.
"Except for the World Cup, we played well last year and have two podium finishes to show for, including the second place finish in the Commonwealth Games. So I am not unduly worried about their performance. Rather, I would like to resume from where we left off in Doha."
A lot of eyebrows were raised when veteran custodian Helen Mary Innocent opted out of the national camp prior to the Asian Games, but now things seem to be settling down. "Dipika Murthy did a fantastic job in Doha. Marita Tirkey is also showing a lot of promise and here in the camp, we have a couple of youngsters like Poonam and Jasdeep," said Subbaiah, who was part of the team that won the gold medal for India at the 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok.
With modern-day hockey placing high importance on fitness, the team has sufficient support staff to ensure that the team doesn't lag in this area. While ruling out any major injury worries barring a few niggles, Saini who is entrusted with the fitness part along with Vasu, said:  "Since the players are coming out after a long break, we don't want to push them immediately into a match situation. Right now they are made to do a lot of weight training in the gym. Here at SAI, we have all the facilities to keep the players fit".
Skipper Jyoti Kullu too hoped to make the best out of the stint here. "We have a hectic season coming up. So it was pretty good that all of us got together and started training well in advance so that by the time the Test series against Japan commences we are well-prepared to meet their challenge."
With the men's team also showing signs of improvement with their third place finish in the Sultan Azlan Shah tournament, hockey buffs can look forward to some exciting days.