Indian Women's Hockey team striker Navneet Kaur strongly believes that this is the perfect time period for aspiring women's players to take up the sport. Recognition, equal status, and opportunities aside, the fan following for women’s hockey also has grown up in recent years. "I believe this is the golden period for women's hockey in India. We are given equal importance, job security, financial benefits through cash awards when we win, all these are great encouraging factors to take up the sport professionally", said Kaur. "I feel the following for our team has also grown tremendously since our improved performances at the 2018 Women's World Cup, Asia Cup, Asian Games, and Asian Champions Trophy," she said.
"It is very motivating to see fans leaving us messages on social media and expressing their support to us. I give credit to Hockey India who has given significant importance to the growth of women's hockey and they ensure there are no shortcomings in our preparations for events," she added. Navneet made her international debut appearance in April 2014 at the India Vs Ireland Test Series. On a total 79 appearances have been made by Navneet Kaur for India.
She praised Hockey India for giving the best treatment a player gets during his/her injury. She is from Shahbad Markanda, Haryana, and a hotbed for hockey also expressed that the facilities available today are remarkable and the youngsters should utilize it to do better in the sport. "Players like Rani and Savita who have been with the team for over a decade always tells us how things have improved for women's hockey over the years and how fortunate we are to be parts of the team now. They motivate us to ride on this support to perform better in top events. We know that not only our lives will change if we win a medal at the Olympics but it will grow the sport by many folds in India," she said.
Speaking about the on-going National Coaching Camp in SAI, Bengaluru, Navneet said, "Our intensity has increased this week onwards and we are able to take more load without facing any fatigue. We are happy that we are hitting the same fitness levels prior to the lockdown."The best part is that since we continued our fitness regime through indoor workouts during the series of lockdowns none of us put on weight. These factors have helped us a lot," she explained.
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