Sushila Chanu’s long career still shapes India’s hockey squad
Summary
Sushila Chanu Pukhrambam is set to play another World Cup on Sunday, a decade after leading India at the 2016 Rio Olympics. The veteran defender, now 34 and capped 262 times, remains part of the squad even though Salima Tete is captain and her own role has shifted from frontline leader to senior guide.
Coaching Impact
Her career traces how Indian women’s hockey has changed around her. Sushila says players now come through better academies, need less handholding and train in a more professional setup than when she was a youngster juggling hockey with Railways duty and ticket-checking shifts in Mumbai. She also describes a deliberate effort to make the team less hierarchical, after foreign coaches and senior players helped break the old distance between juniors and seniors.
Counterpoints
Her place in the squad has not been easy to hold. Injuries and a loss of form left her out of the 2018 Asian Games and World Cup squads, and she says she briefly thought of quitting before returning after friends urged her to keep going.
India’s next stretch is still demanding: the World Cup and Asian Games give the team two chances to measure whether the new structure and training habits can translate into results, not just better preparation.