NEW DELHI, March 20 -- Sjoerd Marijne relaxed into a chair, chuckled occasionally, and discussed how he enjoys playing padel - his "secret" to maintaining fitness and his "young looks". The Indian women's hockey team chief coach also detailed how he enjoys riding his two-wheeler through Bengaluru traffic, enjoying the whiff of the cool breeze along with the smell of coffee while passing many cafes. The Dutchman can afford to be relaxed, especially after achieving his first target: helping India qualify for the World Cup. Returning for his second stint with the team after a five-year gap, the 51-year-old had roughly two months to prepare the team for last week's qualifiers in Hyderabad. It was the final opportunity for the Salima Tete-led outfit to qualify for the quadrennial showpiece in August. With the immediate obstacle out of the way, Marijne now will have time to prepare the unit for much bigger tests ahead. And the task at hand is not easy. India's strikers lacked finishing touch, the midfield lacked fluidity, and the defense was porous, conceding goals against teams like No. 15 Scotland and No. 22 Wales, ranked far below No. 9 India. "Italy (India won 1-0 in the semi-final) was a really poor game, very low technical skills. A lot of nerves, even though we had already qualified," Marijne told HT from Bengaluru on Wednesday. "For me, it was good chance to see how the girls were dealing with the pressure, playing in India, for a World Cup spot. It gave me a lot of information and how we're going to deal with this." Perhaps the most striking drawback was the inability of India's forwardline and penalty corner (PC) specialists to convert their chances. And this was against teams ranked much lower than them who barely play top tier hockey, except eventual winners England. Out of 120 circle penetrations across five games, India converted only 11 times with four being field goals, six being PC conversions and one stroke - an abysmal conversion percentage of 9.17. In PCs, India had a conversion rate of 16.67% which was less than Uruguay (31.58), Italy (21.43), Scotland (20) and England (19.05). "We created so many open opportunities and PCs but missed them. If you don't score, everything looks not that good. One thing we have to improve from this tournament is the conversion from chances to score, in PCs and field goals," said the 51-year-old. Gone are the days when former skipper Rani Rampal would create a moment of magic, scoring a goal against the run of the game or experienced forward Vandana Katariya poaching the ball in the striking circle, being in the right spot at the right time to score the goal. "It's clear we missed too many opportunities. I don't believe that the girls on the pitch can't do it. They also can. But we have to train more. We were short on time. First thing was we had almost 14 girls who were injured when I came. We had to work to get all of them back," said Marijne. "The second was discipline, third was team unity, fourth was technical awareness. You cannot train everything in one-month-and-a-half. Now we have seen where we need improvements. We're going to work on that. "There will always be a new (Deep) Grace (Ekka), a new Rani, a new Vandana. But they need time. They need international exposure, how to deal with pressure. We have to build on that to become a team." While India impressed with some dynamic play, with their zonal game able to thwart counterattacks, winning many balls in the process, and adjusting to the tempo of the game, fitness is another area where Marijne would want to start work immediately. The pace at which India started the contest was clearly missing in the final quarter with their tired legs not able to keep up. "The first step was to let the injured players get back, in a way that we're not taking risks with them. But yes, we are not where we want to be with fitness which leads to technical mistakes. They were getting fatigued and then making mistakes," said Marijne. The Indian men's hockey team will open their World Cup Pool D campaign against Wales on August 15 before taking on England (August 17) and Pakistan on August 19. India women will start against China (August 16), before taking South Africa (August 18) and England (August 20). All of India's group matches will be played in Amstelveen. The top two from each pool will qualify for the second round robin....