With an eye on Tokyo Olympics, Hockey India (HI) has appointed Dutch hockey expert Sjoerd Marijne as coach of the National Women’s hockey team Marijne will oversee the team till the 2020 Games.
Marijne’s coaching record has been good. The former Dutch international was head coach of the Dutch under-21 women’s side that won the World Cup title in 2015. The same year, he guided the senior women’s team to gold medal in the Hockey World League Semifinals.HI has also appointed Eric Wonink, also from Netherlands, as analytical coach. The duo will soon join the national camp which is in progress at Bhopal.
Though the target is 2020 Tokyo Olympics, his first test will come at the 2018 Asian Games as well as the Commonwealth Games the same year.Over the last two years, the Indian national team has made steady progress. After qualifying for the Rio Olympics in 2015, it won the 2016 Women’s Asian Champions Trophy.Besides coaching the Dutch women teams, he also coached their men’s under-21 team between 2011 and 2014.