New Delhi, May 2 (IANS) On their tour of Australia, the Indian women’s hockey team will be hoping to put in a strong performance in the penultimate match. Up against the Australian senior team, the Women in Blue will have their task cut out and have been working hard to ensure the team’s performances are of high quality.
With one eye on the World Cup next year and the FIH Hockey Pro League in Europe later this year, the Indian team is also trying out new combinations and strategies on this tour of Australia. While India have not registered a win yet on the tour, the final two games represent a big chance to rectify that.
India’s 26-member squad, led by captain Salima Tete and vice-captain Navneet Kaur, have so far played the Australian senior team once, and despite a spirited performance, they were handed a 0-2 defeat by the hosts in Perth. Before the game against the Australian senior side, the Indian team also played a couple of friendlies against the Australia A side, but were not able to register wins despite gritty and determined performances.
Going into the final two games of the tour, chief coach Harendra Singh will be hoping to fix the chinks in the armour and build on the strengths of the side.
The Indian team is a healthy mix of experience and youth, and under the leadership of Singh, the squad has made significant progress. While the results in Australia may not have gone the way the team would have liked, the Indian team is looking to build for the future. In attack and in defense, the Indian team has shown plenty of potential already and is well on track in terms of building a solid team for the major tournaments in the future.
Speaking on the occasion, Harendra Singh said, “The Indian Women’s Hockey Team is working hard behind the scenes to ensure that the squad is a robust one. While we have not had much success in terms of winning games on the tour of Australia, there has been plenty of positives from the performances already.”
He further added, “The defeats do hurt us, especially when we have conceded soft goals in, but there is nothing that can replace or match up to the intensity of playing these matches. The more games and game time the Indian Women’s Hockey Team gets the better it is for the players, especially the younger ones. This tour is of a lot of importance as facing top-quality opposition is extremely crucial for the development of the squad.”
India will face Australia in the final two games of the tour on May 3 and 4.
–IANS
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