Indian women's team coach Mathias Ahrens announces strategy ahead of Hockey World League semis

With the FIH World League semi-finals fast approaching, Indian Women’s Hockey team coach, Mathias Ahrens reveals his preparation tactics for the tournament. India start their campaign with a vital game against hosts, Belgium on June 20, 2015.

Ahrens stated that his focus during the preparations was on improving penalty corner conversions and playing with more speed.

“We are in the final phase of preparation for the World League Semi-Finals and it is quite a mixed feeling at the moment. We are focussing on fine-tuning penalty corners, long corners and set pieces,” Ahrens said. “The team is spending more time on speed which will help work on covering the distance.”

The Canadian assured that the team is strong and is focussing on things coming together which will put the team right back on the saddle. He talked about the injury to vice-captain Deepika Thakur calling her a vital cog in the national team.

“She is a central player for us. It’s unthinkable to play without Deepika. Plan-B is in our mind. But, a Plan-B isn’t practical,” admitted the coach.

Indian national team captain Ritu Rani said that the team has found confidence under Ahrens.

“The team looks very confident under the new coach as we are learning and adapting to newer skills which will help us perform better in the opponent's D. We are positive to deliver the desired results,” Ritu said.

India is placed in Group-B with Australia, New Zealand, Poland and Belgium. The coach acknowledges that a tough challenge lies ahead.

The FIH Hockey World League Semi-Final will be played from June 20 to July 4 in Antwerp, Belgium and 10 teams will take part in the tournament. The tournament will also play a catalyst in determining the qualifiers in the 2016 Rio Olympics.