India, Oct. 3 -- Not long ago, the Indian women's hockey team was a fractured unit, drowning in the echoes of missed opportunities.

Relegated from the FIH Pro League, starved of top-flight international fixtures, and reeling from the heartbreak of failing to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics, the squad was bogged down by internal rifts. The turbulence and mounting failures claimed the tenures of two successive coaches, Janneke Schopman and Harendra Singh.

The Tokyo Olympics high - an unprecedented fourth-place finish under Sjoerd Marijne in 2021 - felt like a distant memory. The team desperately needed a catalyst, and at the start of this year, they found one in the return of a familiar face.

Stepping back into the fold, Marijne engi...