After disappointing Australia tour, women’s chief hockey coach Harendra Singh will need to go back to boardroom to evaluate performance of the team

India’s chief women’s hockey coach Harendra Singh will have to go back to the boardroom to evaluate the performance and regroup the 26-member national team that played a series of friendly matches Down Under. 

The Women’s FIH Pro League will start in June and the Indian coach will certainly hope for a better performance graph. 

In the just concluded exposure tour, the Indian team played against Australia A and the senior team but weren’t as successful as expected. The national coach admitted the team didn’t taste success in terms of winning games on the tour Down Under, but was optimistic of gaining vital experience ahead of the challenging 2026 season. “There are plenty of positives from the tour,” chief women’s hockey coach was quoted by Hockey India.

The chief coach further said: “The defeat hurt as the team conceded soft goals. But the more matches players play the better. The Australian tour was important as facing quality opposition was extremely good for the development of the national squad.”

The national team conceding goals as early as into the match will be a worrying factor for the coach.

On May 4, the last of the series, was a consolation win for India as they scored a lone goal to win the fifth and final game at the Perth Hockey Stadium. Navneet Kaur scored the match winner in 21 minutes.

The Indian team lost two matches against Australia A side and senior team.

With the Women’s FIH Pro League around the corner, the chief hockey coach has a challenging task at hand and some time to tie loose ends. The Indian women’s team finished sixth in the nine nations 2024-2025 edition of Women’s FIH Pro League. The prestigious event will start in June this year in Europe.  

The 2026 Asian Games and World Cup are major competitions that the chief hockey coach would be looking ahead to superlative performance from the national team.  

Winner of the 2026 Asian Games will get an automatic berth for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games. A good performance at the 2026 Women’s FIH Hockey World Cup jointly being organised by Belgium and The Netherlands will also give a big boost to the confidence of the players as well as give mental peace to the chief national coach.