Gained a lot of confidence from Tokyo show: Salima

The Indian women’s hockey team has gained a lot of confidence after the stellar display at the Tokyo Olympics, according to midfielder Salima Tete, who feels the side showed signs of a bright future despite not finishing on the podium.

The Rani Rampal-led team made history when it defeated three-time Olympic gold medallist Australia 1-0 in the last eight and played in its first-ever Olympics semifinal against Argentina.

“Our Tokyo performance is slowly starting to sink in now. We were really dejected when we lost to Great Britain in the bronze medal match, but now we are seeing the positives from the Games,” Tete was quoted in a Hockey India release.

“We may not have won a medal, but we certainly gained a lot of confidence from the way we played in Tokyo and it’s definitely going to help us to grow as a team and produce much better results in the future,” she added.

Attack

About the most important things that helped India perform exceedingly well at the Olympics, Tete said: “We always found a way to push the ball forward and attack our opponents. We created many goal-scoring opportunities and ensured that we utilised our penalty corners well. Also, we never gave up, no matter what the situation was.”

The 19-year-old, who played an important role in India’s brilliant performance at the Games, added that she felt blessed to have received an opportunity to play in the Olympics at a very young age.

“I have learned a lot by playing in high-pressure situations and I am certainly going to use it in upcoming competitions. One learns a lot when playing against the best and we are very happy with the way we gave a tough fight to each of our opponents.”