Women’s Hockey India League: Young guns help turn things around for Pipers

SG Pipers had a forgettable season in the last edition of the Women’s Hockey India League (WHIL). They finished last with just one win in regulation time. However, they turned it around this season and will be facing Shrachi Bengal Tigers in the final on Saturday.

They lost their final group match 2-5 against Ranchi Royals in Ranchi on Thursday but still finished on top of the table with 11 points from six matches.
And one of the key factors behind the transformation has been the way their young stars have performed. Be it Sunelita Toppo, Jyoti Singh or Ishika, they have been incredible.

The trio came into the tournament after a below-par showing for India in the junior World Cup but the way they picked themselves up and performed in WHIL was more than impressive.

“Not many people follow junior hockey, so this was a chance for us to show what we are capable of and perform alongside the overseas players,” said junior India skipper Jyoti, who has tried to learn as much as possible from defenders Valentina Costa Biondi and Lola Reira.

Besides the overseas players, their coach Sofie Gierts is the one who made the biggest difference. “As a player, it matters a lot how much trust the coach has in you. Sofie does that and it helped us to grow in confidence,” said Ishika, who scored two goals during the Junior World Cup in Santiago last year.
India senior player and Pipers captain Navneet Kaur also played a major role as she guided them and gave them all the support on and off the field.
“As a junior you can be good, but you need someone to push you. Especially after making mistakes, you start doubting yourself. This is where the seniors use their experience to guide us,” said Jyoti.

Few have made better use of this support than Sunelita and she scored two lovely goals in the tournament.

“Navneet di kept telling me to read the situation better, when to speed up and when to attack. I have been trying to do it since I made it to the senior team, but I was finally able to do it successfully during the match against Soorma,” added the youngster from Odisha.

It definitely made Navneet proud, and she hopes to see them get even better in the coming days. “They have improved a lot since last year. We keep telling them to play freely, concentrate on their game,” said Naveet, who scored both the goals for Pipers on Thursday.

This kind of support has given them confidence, and it has shown in the way they performed. It now remains to be seen whether they can keep it up on Saturday and lead Pipers to victory.