The Indian ladies’s hockey crew want to begin their Asian Champions Trophy marketing campaign with a win in opposition to Thailand on Sunday.
The event is the crew’s first outing since Whiskers missed out on a bronze medal on the Tokyo Olympics. India gained the ACT title in 2016 earlier than being runners-up to event hosts Korea in the identical metropolis within the 2018 version.
Captain and goalkeeper Savita mentioned that her crew is prepared for the problem. “The focus of the crew is on getting off to a great begin now. This is our first worldwide match after the Olympics and taking part in the primary match will at all times produce some butterflies within the abdomen.
China, Korea, Japan and Malaysia are the opposite groups within the single-pool competitors. Talking about different opponents, Savita mentioned, “We predict a troublesome problem from hosts Korea and naturally we can’t guess China or Japan who’re Asian Games gold medalists.
“After we got here, we practiced on the pitch here to get used to some good practice sessions. It is a beautiful facility and we are not new to the conditions of this pitch. The weather is quite cold and getting used to it can be a challenge initially,” she mentioned.
Savita additionally highlighted the significance of this event forward of the hectic schedule subsequent 12 months when they may defend the Asia Cup and in addition try for the highest spot within the Asian Games to make sure that they e book a berth for the Paris Olympics.
India will play their second match on 6 December earlier than taking over Malaysia two days later earlier than dealing with hosts and defending champions Korea. They will play China on 9 December and Japan on 11 December.
The remaining will happen on 12 December between the highest two groups within the pool.
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
