~ Indian staff will play Australia in three matches earlier than taking part in two matches against the Australia ‘A’~
New Delhi, seventeenth May 2023: The Indian Women’s Hockey Team are all equipped to tackle hosts Australia on Thursday within the first sport of their journey Down Under, the place they may play 5 matches from May 18-27 at MATE Stadium in Adelaide.
The staff led by ace goalkeeper Savita and Vice Captained by Deep Grace Ekka will play Australia within the first three video games of the collection, adopted by two matches against Australia A. The tour is a part of the Indian staff’s preparations for the upcoming Hangzhou Asian Games 2023, which can happen in September-October this yr.
The Indian staff will open their tour with a match against Australia on the 18th May earlier than taking part in back-to-back video games on the twentieth and twenty first May. The guests will then compete against Australia A on the twenty fifth and twenty seventh May. The Australian Women’s Hockey Team is presently ranked third on the planet, whereas the Indian staff is ranked eighth.
Notably, the Indian Women’s Hockey Team left for Adelaide on 14th May and since then they’ve been coaching there to get acclimatized to the circumstances in Australia. Speaking on the identical, Captain Savita stated, “We are training everyday and even under the lights so that the team get used to the field and circumstances in Adelaide as our matches are scheduled to take place in the evening.”
“We even had our training session this morning, and the team did some gameplay as we are getting ready for our first game tomorrow,” she added.
Meanwhile, Janneke Schopman, the Chief Coach of the Indian Women’s Hockey Team, stated that the staff is all equipped to play against Australia.
“Players are excited and ready to take on Australia. The weather is quite nice here. We are feeling good and are ready to show what we’ve been working on in the last couple of weeks,” Schopman stated.
Interestingly, the Indian Women’s Hockey Team defeated Australia 1-0 within the Semi-Finals of the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. It was a historic victory for the Indian staff as they have been competing in solely their third Olympics and certified for the Quarter-Finals for the primary time, whereas Australia have been three-time gold medallists.
The Indian staff additionally fought laborious against Australia within the Commonwealth Games 2022 Semi-Final match in Birmingham, tying the rating at 1-1 on the finish of regulation time. However, Australia received the penalty shoot-out 3-0 to make it to the Final, which they misplaced to England. Meanwhile, India received their third/4th place match to take the Bronze medal residence.
India tour of Australia might be telecast reside on DD Sports. While the remainder of the world can view the matches on watch.hockey. In Australia, the matches might be reside on Fox Sports/Kayo and likewise via the net platform, StayHockey.
