Is Pro Hockey League Taking a Toll on Indian Hockey?

Its popularity in India is also immense. With respect to the Indian women's team, Janneke Schopman, the chief coach seems eager to push the squad to victory in the 2022 season hoping to prepare them for upcoming events. They have multiple big-ticket tournaments ahead of them like the Commonwealth Games, the World Cup, and the Asian Games.

"I want our team to perform and to be able to be at our best in a tournament like the World Cup or Asian Games. The players need to be at the level that they get the experience they need," Schopman declared during a virtual media interaction arranged by Hockey India. "The Pro League will be a lot about how people are preserving their sport, making sure that they can play and then also fine-tuning our gameplay," as revealed by the coach. However, the flock of celebrated females could not meet expectations in the Asian Hockey Cup in February 2022. They failed to defend the title and finished third although they picked up their momentum at the Pro League campaign bettering China with 7-1.

Domestic structure under threat? 

"The girls did really well. Of course, we didn't get the results we wanted in terms of scoreline but I was actually quite happy to see the progress throughout the tournament into the Pro League," Schopman said. In July 2017, Hockey India had decided to pull out both the men's and women's national teams from the competition when the Pro League replaced other events that previously served as qualifiers to the Olympics. A year later, Hockey India cancelled the Oppo National Hockey League due to reasons unclarified. India's chances of pulling through to the Summer Olympics used to be higher before the commencement of the Pro Hockey League. The ranking system was also faulty as determined by India forcing The International Hockey Federation to invite other countries.

After a three-year-long gap, India joined the Pro League in 2020. The third edition will spawn across two semesters. It started on October 13, 2021, and is scheduled to run until June 26, 2022. Due to Australia and New Zealand's absence, the FIH invited the Indian women team alongside Spain to fill in. The Indian women’s team will face England on April 3, 2022, while the men’s team will encounter Argentina on March 19, 2022. It remains to be seen whether India can change the game and increase their chances of qualifying for the next 2024 Summer Olympics to be held in Paris. The women’s team is off on a good start while the men are barely afloat with an equal number of losses and wins.