India, June 30 -- Harendra Singh was upbeat before leaving for Europe in late May. The India women's chief coach appeared confident about the team's chances of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup via the Pro League, having missed the bus for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The optimism seemed justified. The team management had put in a lot of effort in the national camps in the first half of the year. Fresh blood had been injected in the team. An Australia tour for friendlies was organised. Dutch drag-flick legend Taeke Taekema was brought in regularly to train India's penalty corner (PC) specialists and Deepika Sehrawat and Manisha Chauhan were sent to the Netherlands to train under famous PC coach Toon Siepman.

But when the time came to put al...