Placed in Pool A of the tournament, the young Indian eves
will face the challenges of China ,
Malaysia , Singapore and
DPR Korea in the pool phase. With the 7th Women’s Junior Asia Cup a
qualification tournament for the 2016 FIH Junior World Cup (Women), the India
Women Team will do their best to gain maximum out of the tournament and secure
a place in the World Cup.
Captained by star player Rani, the team consists of several
experienced players who even represent the India Women National Hockey Team.
Rani will lead the forward line along with Anupa Barla, Punam Barla, Navneet
Kaur and Sonika and will look at inspiring the team with her finishing
abilities. Rani played a very important role to steer the team from the front
in the recently concluded Volvo Invitational U-21 Tournament, where the Junior
team finished at respectable 3rd position and she understands the
importance of continuing with her good form in the upcoming tournament.
Vice-Captain Navjot Kaur and talented Lily Chanu
will mobilise the midfield area to provide maximum support to the
defence-line as well as create opportunities for the forward players. Navjot
Kaur, Lily Chanu, Lilima Minz and Renuka Yadav with their add-on experience of
representing the India Women Hockey Team will give a huge boost to the team.
The defence even boasts of hugely experienced Deep Grace Ekka, Namita Toppo and
penalty corner specialist Jaspreet Kaur. Led by goalkeeper Inderpreet Kaur, the
defence-line is quite capable to hold attacks from DPR Korea as well as other
teams in the tournament.
Both India
and DPR Korea will clash against each other for the first time on the opening
match and which will prove to be a challenge to understand each others’ game.
Though Indian eves will feel more confident because of the experience that they
have, they will not be taking the opponents lightly as they might poise
surprise threats and malign India ’s
positive start.
Speaking on the first match against DPR Korea, Chief Coach
Mathias Ahrens stated: “We have never seen them play but we have the edge
in terms of a good and strong team along with experience but we still will not
take the match easy as the opponent may have the surprise element and can stun
us. We have to watch their every move and play accordingly. We are making sure
that there are no loopholes in the team and in the process avoid every room for
error. Players have been practising for the last one month and been working on
reducing their earlier mistakes. We will play as per our strategy,
understand their game and look at scoring the quick goals. We are confident of
a good start in the tournament.”
Speaking after a training session, Captain Rani Rampal
added: “It’s time to implement our strategies on field and perform our
level best for the opening match. The girls are well prepared and confident to
take on DPR Korea. We don’t know how they play and that brings the additional
challenge of a surprise element. We will start aggressively, take the attack to
the opponents and aim to score initially. The idea is to have good ball
possession whilst keeping the pressure on the opponents. We are geared-up and
looking forward to the match.”
HI Press release
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