The Nations Cup comes at a crucial point in the Indian women’s programme. It is the first of three major tournaments in a compressed window, with the FIH Women’s World Cup and the Asian Games to follow. Additionally, the Nations Cup winner earns promotion to the FIH Pro League, giving the victorious nation a season of weekly high-level competition against the world’s best.

Notable Selections

Lalthantluangi and Shilpi Dabas both earned their maiden senior call-ups during the Australia tour and keep their places for Auckland. Sonam also makes the squad after scoring her first senior international goal against Australia in Perth. Marijne has kept faith with all three after their performances in the four-match friendly series.

Meanwhile, Navneet Kaur heads into the tournament as India’s most in-form forward. She stood out across both the Argentina and Australia tours, scoring in multiple matches and captaining the side in Argentina.

However, Baljeet Kaur misses out despite being part of the Australia tour squad. Hockey India have not given a reason for her absence.

What Marijne Said

Speaking to Hockey India, Marijne said the tours of Argentina and Australia have given the squad the preparation they needed. The focus now is on translating that into consistent performances across a full tournament.

“The Nations Cup is an important tournament for us. We want to go there and play with ambition to set a standard for ourselves that we can build on. We have built on those aspects in the Argentina and Australia tours, which gave us good preparation as a team. Now it is about taking the next step and showing that level consistently across a full tournament. The squad is motivated and ready for the challenge.”

India’s Fixtures in FIH Nations Cup 2026

India are in Pool A alongside Japan, the United States, and Uruguay. Their opening match is against the United States on June 15 at 16:15 IST. They then face Japan on June 16 at 18:30 IST. The pool stage concludes against Uruguay on June 18 at 16:15 IST. The semi-finals follow on June 20 and the final on June 21.

For the full schedule, what is at stake, and the Pro League promotion picture, read our FIH Nations Cup 2026 schedule and preview piece.

India’s Squad for FIH Nations Cup 2026

Goalkeepers: Savita and Bichu Devi Kharibam

Defenders: Sushila Chanu Pukhrambam, Ishika Chaudhary, Lalthantluangi, Shilpi Dabas, Jyoti and Nikki Pradhan

Midfielders: Salima Tete (c), Neha, Sunelita Toppo, Sakshi Rana, Deepika Soreng, Sonam and Lalremsiami

Forwards: Navneet Kaur, Deepika, Rutuja Dadaso Pisal, Ishika and Annu

2026 is a big year for Indian hockey. Nations Cup. World Cup. Asian Games. Subscribe to the Give Me Hockey newsletter and follow every step of it.

<p>The post FIH Nations Cup 2026: India Squad Named, Baljeet Kaur Surprise Omission first appeared on Give Me Hockey.</p>

The group is unchanged from the April camp under Chief Coach Sjoerd Marijne. The one update is Sangita Kumari. Sangita featured in the April camp as a rehab inclusion, but that tag is gone in this announcement.

Sangita missed the entire 2024-25 Pro League season with a knee injury. India finished last that season and were relegated. Hockey India viewed her as the natural successor to Vandana Katariya in attack, and her absence hurt the team. She is back and available for selection now.

What Is at Stake This Summer

The Australia tour leads into the FIH Nations Cup in Auckland from June 15 to 21. India are in Pool A alongside Japan, the United States, and Uruguay. The Nations Cup winner earns direct promotion to the next FIH Pro League season. India won the first edition in Valencia in December 2022.

The Pro League place carries extra weight this cycle. The winner of the 2026-27 FIH Pro League goes straight to the LA 2028 Olympics.

After Auckland, the FIH Hockey Women’s World Cup runs from August 15 to 30 in Belgium and the Netherlands. Then comes the 2026 Asian Games in Japan from September 19 to October 4. Marijne has set the Asian Games as his main goal. A gold medal there means a direct Olympic berth. The Nations Cup and the World Cup serve as steps along the way.

Marijne’s Message Ahead of Camp

“This will be a short camp ahead of our upcoming tour to Australia. The integral focus of the camp will be on the fitness aspects of the game and improving in those areas. We want to be consistent in this regard and take the next step as a team.”

For the full Australia warm-up series schedule, see our earlier report: India Women’s Hockey Team Head to Australia for Warm-Up Series Ahead of Busy Summer.

The Squad

Goalkeepers: Savita, Madhuri Kindo, Bichu Devi Kharibam, Bansari Solanki

Defenders: Nikki Pradhan, Ishika Chaudhary, Jyoti Singh, Lalthantluangi, Jyoti, Udita, Shilpi Dabas

Midfielders: Sushila Chanu Pukhrambam, Manisha Chauhan, Vaishnavi Vitthal Phalke, Sakshi Rana, Sunelita Toppo, Salima Tete, Neha, Ishika

Forwards: Deepika Soreng, Rutaja Dadaso Pisal, Baljeet Kaur, Navneet Kaur, Deepika, Annu, Beauty Dungdung, Hina Bano, Sonam, Lalremsiami, Mumtaz Khan, Sangita Kumari

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<p>The post Hockey India calls up 31 players for Senior Women’s Hockey Camp in May first appeared on Give Me Hockey.</p>

For India, this is the second stop after their earlier tour of Argentina. The Nations Cup follows in June, the World Cup in August, and the Asian Games in September.

Why These Matches Matter

India’s relegation from the Pro League last season means they have no regular high-level competition this year. With no regular high-level competition to draw on, warm-up matches against top sides are the only way to build match sharpness before the big tournaments arrive. Playing Australia, the eighth-ranked team in the world, gives the squad the intensity they cannot replicate in training.

Argentina was the first benchmark. Australia is the next. Marijne called the Argentina tour an important reference point for his squad. The matches, he said, helped the players understand what consistent top-level competition demands.

“We are in the right direction,” Marijne said after the Argentina tour. “The most important thing was that Argentina set the benchmark. Now the girls know what is required to compete against a top side and be successful.”

Read More: FIH Nations Cup 2026 (Women): Schedule, India’s Fixtures, and What Is at Stake

He added that while results were encouraging, the focus remains on constant improvement, particularly with finishing inside the circle. Marijne pointed to visible progress from match to match, especially in the final two games where India matched Argentina physically and tactically.

Quote courtesy: RevSports

Australian head coach Rhett Halkett also framed the series as a preparation opportunity. “These matches are exactly what we need at this stage of our preparation,” Halkett said. “India and the USWNT bring different strengths and styles of hockey, which will challenge our group in different ways.”

Quote courtesy: Hockey Australia

Full Schedule

All four matches at Perth Hockey Stadium. All times in AWST and IST.

Read more: Sjoerd Marijne Quest: Rebuilding India for the World Cup

India Squad for the Tour

Hockey India announced the 22-member squad on May 18, 2026. Salima Tete will captain the side.

Shilpi Dabas and Lalthantluangi have both received their maiden senior call-ups. Sonam and Hina Bano are yet to make their senior international debuts.

Chief Coach Sjoerd Marijne said the squad balances experience with youth. “We have picked a squad with a good balance of experienced and young players, some of whom will get their first minutes at the international level. It’s important to keep developing players, and the best way to do that is under pressure in international matches.”

On what he wants from the tour, Marijne added: “This tour is to prepare for the upcoming Nations Cup. I want to see the level of performance we saw in our last two matches in Argentina and build consistency in our performances.”

Goalkeepers: Savita, Bichu Devi Kharibam

Defenders: Nikki Pradhan, Ishika Chaudhary, Sushila Chanu Pukhrambam, Lalthantluangi, Jyoti, Shilpi Dabas

Midfielders: Salima Tete, Lalremsiami, Neha, Sakshi Rana, Sunelita Toppo, Deepika Soreng, Sonam

Forwards: Navneet Kaur, Baljeet Kaur, Deepika, Annu, Ishika, Hina Bano, Rutuja Dadaso Pisal

Where to Watch

LiveHockey.com.au will stream the games LIVE for fans in Australia. Entry to the ground is also free. Hockey India is yet to confirm broadcast and streaming details for Indian fans. We will update this article once an official option becomes available.

By the time India leave Perth on May 30, Marijne will have four more matches of data to work with before the Nations Cup begins on June 15.

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<p>The post India Tour of Australia: Squad, Schedule and Streaming Details first appeared on Give Me Hockey.</p>

Indian hockey fans responded with warmth and relief. Marijne is not just a coach to them. He is the man who made them believe. The man who took a team that had spent decades in the wilderness and put them four minutes away from an Olympic medal. His return felt like a correction. Like something that had gone wrong was being put right.

But what exactly is he walking back into? The answer to that question is more complicated than the celebration suggested.

Read More: Complete Schedule of Women’s Hockey World Cup

What Sjoerd Marijne Built the First Time

When Marijne first arrived in 2017, he was largely unknown to Indian hockey fans. A Dutch coach with solid but unremarkable credentials, he came, got moved sideways to the men’s team when Roelant Oltmans was sacked, delivered an Asia Cup gold, then got replaced after a disappointing fourth place at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Harendra Singh came in for the men. Marijne went back to the women.

What happened next is the story Indian hockey tells itself most often. The steady results. The silver at the 2018 Asian Champions Trophy. The silver at the Jakarta Asian Games. The tense two-legged Olympic qualifier against the United States in 2019, won 6-5 on aggregate. Then Covid, the bio-bubble, and Marijne turning back from the airport rather than risk not being able to return to his team.

The Tokyo Olympics

Tokyo, when it finally arrived in 2021, started badly. India lost their first three group games against Netherlands, Germany, and Great Britain. Then they won their next two. Then they did what no one expected. They beat Australia 1-0 in the quarterfinals. Approximately 300 million Indians watched that match. India lost to Argentina in the semi-final and then lost the bronze medal match to Great Britain 4-3. Fourth place. The best finish in the history of Indian women’s hockey at the Olympics.

“An Indian journalist said to me: you may not have won a medal, but you did inspire the country.” — Sjoerd Marijne

But Tokyo was not built on one quarterfinal win. It was built on an environment. Marijne, Janneke Schopman as his analytical coach, Wayne Lombard as the scientific advisor who transformed the team’s fitness levels, a specific culture of belief and physical conditioning that took years to assemble. The Australia result was the proof of what that environment could produce on its best day. The environment itself was the real achievement.

What Four Years Without Him Actually Looked Like

The hope after Tokyo was real. India had reached a semifinal. The expectation was that this was the floor, not the ceiling. That Indian women’s hockey would build from here toward a genuine top five or six position in the world.

Schopman: The Numbers Tell a Different Story

Schopman was the natural successor. She had been at Marijne’s side through the entire Tokyo campaign. She knew the system, knew the players, understood the philosophy. And her record, when you look at it honestly, was not the record of a failed coach. In 74 matches as head coach, India won 38, lost 19, and drew 17. She won the FIH Nations Cup in Valencia in 2022, the Asian Champions Trophy in Ranchi in 2023, and delivered bronze medals at the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games. She kept the team competitive.

But two things worked against her. First, Wayne Lombard, the scientific advisor who had built the fitness platform under Marijne, left after Tokyo. The support structure that underpinned everything Marijne had built did not fully transfer. Second, Schopman herself was frank about the environment she operated in. “India is extremely difficult as a woman,” she told the Indian Express before she resigned. The resistance she encountered was real and she named it directly.

Her record deserved better than the narrative that followed her resignation. But the two results that mattered most, ninth place at the 2022 World Cup and fourth place at the Paris Olympic qualifier in Ranchi in 2024, ended her tenure. She resigned in February 2024, a month after India failed to qualify for Paris.

Harendra and the Real Collapse

Then came Harendra Singh. A respected Indian coach, a Junior World Cup winner, a different philosophy entirely. In the FIH Pro League 2024-25, India won two of sixteen matches. They finished last. They were relegated from the Pro League to the Nations Cup. It was the lowest point Indian women’s hockey had reached since the Marijne era. Harendra resigned in December 2025, citing personal reasons.

The four years after Tokyo were not a straight line downward. Schopman kept the team functional and competitive. The real collapse came later, and quickly. By the time Marijne returned in January 2026, the distance between where the team was and where it had been in 2021 was significant.

What Sjoerd Marijne Has Come Back To

India are currently ranked ninth in the world. Three places below where they were at the peak of Marijne’s first stint. Fitness, which Marijne had made the cornerstone of the Tokyo campaign, had visibly slipped under subsequent setups. One significant development in Marijne’s return is that Wayne Lombard, the scientific advisor who built the physical platform during the Tokyo campaign and left after 2021, has also come back. The environment that produced Tokyo is not being rebuilt from scratch. At least one of its key architects is back alongside Marijne.

Three Systems, Four Years, One Confused Squad

But the fitness deficit is only part of what he has inherited. The deeper problem is tactical. In four years, this squad has been through three fundamentally different coaching philosophies. Under Schopman, the emphasis was on simplifying decision making and moving the ball quickly. Under Harendra, the team shifted toward a high pressing style with intense fitness demands. Now Marijne is asking for something different again. Fast, direct, vertical hockey built on interdependence. Players do not just learn tactics intellectually. They internalize movement patterns, positioning instincts, decision-making triggers. Three systems in four years means those instincts have been overwritten repeatedly. The players know what to do in theory. Under pressure, when instinct takes over, that confusion shows.

The Pro League relegation makes this harder in a way that goes beyond status. Without Pro League fixtures, India will not test their systems against the Netherlands, Argentina, or Germany before the World Cup. Those matches are not just competitive opportunities. They are diagnostic tools. They tell a coach what is working under genuine high-level pressure and what is not. Marijne is arriving at the World Cup in August having had the Nations Cup in June as his only serious benchmark against top international opposition. That is a significant preparation gap that the relegation created and that no amount of domestic training can fully replace.

A Generation That Never Saw Tokyo

There is also a generational gap. The players who were part of Tokyo are older now. Some have retired. The new generation coming through did not experience that quarterfinal win against Australia. They do not carry that reference point of what this team can do on its absolute best day. Building belief in players who have not experienced what belief can produce is a different challenge from rebuilding it in players who have.

The World Cup qualifier in Hyderabad offered early signs of what Marijne is working with. India finished second, scoring eleven goals, six from penalty corners. They lost the final to England 2-0. There is talent in this squad. The gap is not about individual quality. It is about the environment that turns individual quality into collective performance, and four years of tactical inconsistency have made that environment harder to rebuild.

The Question His Return Actually Raises

Marijne is not just coming back to coach a hockey team. He is trying to recreate an environment that took years to build, with a squad that has been through three different coaching philosophies in four years, in a fraction of the time he had before.

The compressed timeline is unforgiving. The World Cup in Belgium and the Netherlands runs from August 15 to 29. The Asian Games in Japan follow in September. Win the Asian Games gold and India go directly to LA 2028. The cycle demands results before the environment has had time to fully settle.

There is a personal dimension to the World Cup assignment. Marijne is Dutch. He will coach India at Wagener Stadium in Amstelveen, a venue he knows intimately. “I know how good they can organise these things. And I know how amazing an event it will be. And that’s why personally for me, I really like to go there,” he has said. Coaching India in the Netherlands, against the country that produced him, adds a layer to this assignment that goes beyond tactics and results.

He has also been open about why he came back when he did not expect to. “One minute I thought: I have it very good now. The next minute I thought: why should I let this opportunity run?” His family, his wife Brigitte and his children, pushed him to say yes. And when asked privately why, he said: “I never thought I would come back. But I followed everything because India is in my heart.”

Whether It Can Work

The honest version of this story is that Marijne is walking back into something harder than what he left. Marijne is not inheriting the team he built. He is inheriting a team that has been through Schopman, who was undermined by factors beyond her control, and Harendra, whose tenure produced a collapse. He is inheriting a fitness deficit, a confidence gap, and a generation of players who need to be shown rather than told what this team can become.

The Argentina tour in early 2026 offered something. A 2-2 series draw against the world’s second-ranked team. Marijne pointed to mental strength and fitness improvements as genuine positives. He flagged circle entries and finishing as the areas that still need work. That is a coach who knows exactly what he is building and what still needs to be built.

Whether the environment he is creating can produce results before August is the question that the next few months will answer. Tokyo took four years to build. Marijne has months.

Read our Two part series on Hockey India off the field of play.
Part 1: The Federation Is Not the Dressing Room: Why Hockey India Needs Professional Administration

Part 2: The Federation Is Not the Dressing Room, Part 2: What Hockey India Own Documents Reveal

From One Home to Another

But here is what makes August different from any other assignment he has had. In 2021, Marijne left India as the coach who inspired a nation, and could not go home because Covid had closed the borders. He turned back from the airport to stay with his team in a bio-bubble. He chose India when he could have chosen home.

In 2026, he is taking India to Amstelveen. To Wagener Stadium. To the literal heart of Dutch hockey, the country that produced him, the sport he grew up watching and loving. He is not coaching India in a neutral venue. He is coaching his second home in his first home.

Tokyo was built in a bubble, cut off from the world, under conditions nobody would choose. Amstelveen is the opposite. It is open, familiar, his. If he can take this team there and produce something, it will not be a result born of isolation and circumstance. It will be proof that what he built in 2021 was never about the bubble. It was always about the blueprint.

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<p>The post Sjoerd Marijne Quest: Rebuilding India for the World Cup first appeared on Give Me Hockey.</p>

What Is the FIH Nations Cup

The FIH Nations Cup is an annual international tournament for the top-ranked nations outside the FIH Pro League. It gives teams at the next level a high-quality competitive platform, and the winner earns promotion to the following season’s FIH Pro League, provided they meet FIH participation requirements.

India won the inaugural edition in Valencia, Spain in December 2022. Spain won the second edition on home soil in Terrassa in June 2024. New Zealand claimed the third title in Santiago, Chile in February 2025, beating Ireland on a 4-2 shootout in the final after the match ended 1-1. Auckland 2026 is the fourth edition, with the Black Sticks defending on home turf.

In terms of format, eight teams compete in two pools of four. The top two from each pool advance to the semi-finals. Classification matches fill out the remaining places, with the final and third place play-off on the last day.

What Is at Stake

The Pro League spot is the headline prize. The winner of the Nations Cup earns promotion to replace the team that drops out of the bottom of the Pro League, giving them a season of weekly high-level competition against the world’s best. For nations like India who sit just outside the Pro League, it is the clearest pathway back in.

Beyond the promotion spot, though, the Nations Cup in June 2026 carries extra weight. It is the first of three major tournaments in a compressed window: Nations Cup in June, Women’s World Cup in August, Asian Games in September. Each one feeds into the next. What a team does in Auckland shapes how ready it is when it matters most.

Read More: The Federation Is Not the Dressing Room: Why Hockey India Needs Professional Administration

India’s Perspective

Head coach Sjoerd Marijne has laid out the priority order clearly. The Asian Games in Japan is the primary goal, with a gold medal there meaning direct qualification for the LA 2028 Olympics. The Nations Cup and the World Cup both serve as preparation and measurement along the way.

“The Asian Games is the most important, but it doesn’t mean we don’t want to do well in the other tournaments. We will be using the other events to see if we have improved enough,” said Marijne, who previously guided India to second-place finishes at the 2018 Asian Games and the 2018 Asian Champions Trophy.

On the pitch, India head into the Nations Cup on the back of a 2-2 series draw against World No. 2 Argentina, a result that showed the team can compete at the top level but also exposed gaps. Marijne pointed to finishing as the key area to address, noting the team averaged only 10 to 12 circle entries per game on that tour. Nevertheless, he highlighted mental strength and fitness as areas of genuine progress.

“On the mental side of things, we did really well and coped with the level they put us under. Our team has gained experience now and knows they can beat a World No. 2 side. That gives us a lot of confidence,” Marijne said.

(Quotes courtesy: Mid-Day)

India face the United States on the opening day, Japan on day two, and Uruguay on day four. All three pool matches kick off in the early to mid-evening IST window.

FIH Nations Cup Match Schedule (All Times IST)

The FIH Nations Cup is just the start of a huge season for women’s hockey. Several teams in Auckland will meet again at the World Cup in August and the Asian Games in September. Results here matter, but so does what teams learn about each other. For India, every match in Auckland is preparation for a bigger stage. Marijne has been clear about the destination. This is where the journey begins.

Schedule source: Hockey India. All times in IST and subject to change.

Where To Watch

The official broadcast partner for the FIH Women’s Nations Cup 2026 is yet to be announced. All matches will be available to stream on Watch.Hockey, the FIH’s official streaming platform.

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<p>The post FIH Nations Cup 2026 (Women): Schedule, India’s Fixtures, and What Is at Stake first appeared on Give Me Hockey.</p>