India women’s coach Harendra Singh reveals packed schedule building up to Hockey World Cup 2026 qualifiers

The Indian women’s hockey team will be looking to play at least five matches against European sides before the FIH Women’s World Cup 2026 Qualifiers next year, head coach Harendra Singh revealed on Wednesday.

India was forced to put all its eggs in one basket when it missed out on direct World Cup qualification after losing 1-4 to China in the Asia Cup final.

This defeat meant India would now have to take the qualifier route to book its ticket to the World Cup, set to be co-hosted by Belgium and the Netherlands.

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“We are planning to play a minimum of five matches prior to the qualifiers because that’s also important,” Harendra told Sportstar days after the final loss to China.

“Definitely European [on which teams India will prefer to play]. I’m in touch with the Belgian and Spanish federations. We’ll have to either go to them or somewhere which is en route to the qualification matches, which might be tough.”

Before the qualifiers, which are tentatively slated to begin late February next year, the national team players will also have the second edition of the women’s Hockey India League (HIL) — scheduled to start from January 5 — to get enough game time.

“The HIL will give them some quality games. We’ll keep an eye on those matches to see what needs more work, and then we’ll have another few weeks before the qualifiers to correct them, depending on which tournament we’ll be seeded in,” Harendra said.

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But even before the HIL, Harendra and Co. will set up camp from October 12 onwards and focus on getting the players’ fitness levels back to optimum levels.

Moreover, with forward Deepika’s return from injury marked three weeks later—the drag-flicker was ruled out days before the commencement of the Asia Cup—penalty corner execution and strikers being handed individual roles are also part of the coach’s plans.

“I may bring in some outside players, maybe Under-18, Under-19, Under-20 boys, because they will be more physical and harder to receive the ball from,” the coach added.

Published on Sep 18, 2025