India's most experienced player Savita Punia and her fellow goalkeeper Bichu Devi, sitting in the dugout as soon as the hooter sounded at the Wagner Stadium in the Netherlands, could not control their tears. Ishika Chaudhary, sitting right behind her, could not believe that in her very first World Cup, she missed a medal by coming so close to it. After a goalless draw in the second leg match with Australia, the Indian team was out of the race for the semi-finals on the basis of goals despite equal points. After the match, the faces of the players were telling what they were going through.
The eyes of the players who were waiting for their team bus after coming out of the field were red. Head coach Sjoerd Marin was talking to the media but could not hide his sadness. The team's scientific advisor and head of athlete performance, Wayne Lombard, and senior players were encouraging the players who were playing the World Cup for the first time. This is the first World Cup for 11 players in the Indian team and they could not believe that they were out of the race for the semi-finals.
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Players broken after missing the medal
One player, sitting on the stairs and talking to her mother on the phone, said, 'This was the best opportunity. We had come so close and now we don't know when we will get this opportunity. Savita, who was playing her third World Cup, stood silently and could only say that this was the best opportunity. Experienced midfielder Neha Goyal's tears were not stopping. When she was told that she had to win a gold medal in the Asian Games, she just nodded yes and could not say anything.
The Indian women's hockey team has never won a medal in the World Cup and its best performance was in the very first World Cup played in France in 1974, when the team finished fourth. Now India has to play the fifth-sixth place match on August 27 and there will be a best performance there too. Even after telling this to console him, one player replied, 'A medal is a medal, isn't it?'
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What did Captain Salima Tete say?
Team captain Salima Tete said, 'We are not happy because after coming so close to the medal, it was impossible to miss it. We worked so hard for this. Played well but could not finish.
He said, 'We are together in defeat as well as in victory. We have learned from this that no opportunity should be wasted. Now we have to play for fifth place and will come back again. We have not given up our fighting spirit yet and will not give up in this last match also.
Salima said that this day was not her team's, whereas in every match before this the players had performed well. He said, 'If you are playing on such a big stage, it does not feel good to come here and leave empty handed, but we will boost the morale of the team and will take the fifth position.'