‘Chak De’ girls reboot bigger dreams with Asian Champions Trophy

A hard-earned triumph in the women’s Asian Champions Trophy on Wednesday, 20 November, in which India upstaged Olympic silver medallists China 1-0 in the final, was just the kind of start head coach Harendra Singh hoped for. More than retaining the title, it rebooted the Chak De girls’ dreams to make a strong impact at both the 2026 World Cup in the Netherlands and the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

‘’This tournament is a base for our future planning. ACT is on our calendar, what we want to achieve in terms of results. It will be start of journey for mission 2026 World Cup and 2028 Los Angeles Olympics,’’ Harendra said on the eve of their lung opener. The team had struggled for a while since their historic fourth-place finish at the Tokyo Olympics, facing a tough phase that included missing out on qualification at the Paris Olympics and suffering 13 defeats in 16 FIH Pro League games.

Young drag flicker Deepika, on whom the new head coach had been pinning a lot of hopes to score against tougher opposition, rose to the occasion when she converted a penalty corner in the 31^st minute for the matchwinner. Deepika was rewarded for her consistency with 11 goals, a feat which fetched her the player of the tournament.

“She (Deepika) is just about to turn 21 and she can be a lethal, world-class striker. Not only field goals, I am really working on her drag flicks. She is already scoring but he can get better. I am not putting any pressure, but she has a bright future,” Harendra said.

This triumph marks India’s third ACT title, having previously won in 2016 and 2023. China, meanwhile, had to settle for their third runner-up finish while Japan claimed the third spot on the podium, beating Malaysia 4-1 in the bronze medal match earlier in the day. Now ranked ninth in the world, India hence got the better of a higher ranked China (sixth) twice in the tournament as they had earlier won 3-0 against them in a round robin match in the six-team tournament.

Win is a win: Salima

‘’We have finally achieved what we had thought. A win is a win, whether it is by one goal or two goals,’’ remarked Salima Tete, the new captain of the team, who has a mural of her adorning the walls of the venue Rajgir Sports Complex in Bihar. The champions were awarded a prize purse of $ US 10,000 by Asian Hockey Federation, while China and Japan received $ 7000 and $ 5000, respectively.

 ‘’We have overcome all the setbacks, worked on our mistakes. ACT is one of the biggest platforms for the girls to showcase their skill and excel and they showed that the team is on the right path,’’ Harendra added as bigger challenges await them in the coming months.