No Chocolates, No Fast Food: Savita Punia's Bold Pact to Bring India More Hockey Medals

No chocolates. No fast food. That's the extraordinary promise India's women's hockey team has made as it begins its journey towards the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics, with the immediate focus firmly on winning medals at the FIH Women's Hockey World Cup and the Asian Games.

Veteran goalkeeper Savita Punia, one of India's greatest hockey players with over 300 international appearances, revealed that the team has voluntarily continued the strict diet introduced before the Tokyo Olympics, believing that discipline off the field is just as important as performance on it.

According to Savita, the transformation began under renowned strength and conditioning expert Wayne Lombard, whose uncompromising fitness standards helped reshape the team's physical conditioning. Sugar, sweets, chocolates and junk food disappeared from the players' routine, and they have no intention of bringing them back anytime soon.

The commitment runs so deep that even after lifting the FIH Nations Cup in New Zealand recently, the team refused to touch the celebratory cake brought for them. Instead, the players laughed and reminded each other of their collective promise: no sweets until the Los Angeles Olympics.

Savita believes the biggest change since Tokyo is not the fitness programme itself but the players' mindset. Earlier, coaches had to monitor every meal. Today, every player willingly follows the discipline, understanding that every sacrifice brings them closer to their dream.

The experienced custodian also credited head coach Sjoerd Marijne and the support staff for creating a high-performance environment where every match is treated like a final. Specialists including Wayne Lombard, analytical coach Matias Villa, scientific advisors, physiotherapists, and Dutch drag-flick legend Taeke Taekema have all contributed to improving different aspects of the team's game.

Fresh from their FIH Nations Cup triumph, India will also return to the FIH Pro League, where they will face the world's best teams across 16 matches—valuable preparation ahead of the Olympic cycle.

While the immediate targets remain podium finishes at the World Cup and the Asian Games, Savita admitted that strengthening penalty-corner defence, especially against strong teams like China, remains a priority.

Inspired by the Indian men's recent Olympic success, the women's team hopes to script its own memorable chapter. For Savita and her teammates, every skipped dessert, every gruelling training session, and every day away from family is part of one shared mission—to stand on the podium and make the nation proud.