Defender Deep Grace Ekka feels more playing time against stronger teams will help players before World Cup

The FIH Hockey Women's World Cup 2022 in Netherlands is set to begin from July 1, 2022. The anticipation for the tournament is high among the national women hockey team's camp at SAI Centre in Bengaluru.

The Indian Women's Hockey Team are placed in Pool B alongside England, China, and New Zealand. They will kick off their campaign against England on July 3, 2022, in Amstelveen, Netherlands.

With 30 days left for the quadrennial tournament to begin, there is a belief among the players in the camp that upcoming away matches of the FIH Hockey Pro League 2021/22 against Belgium, Argentina, and the United States will be a great opportunity for them to prepare for the big challenge.

"The camp is buzzing with excitement and positive energy. The players are training together and there is a real sense of unity among the younger set of players and the senior ones. Everyone is looking forward to the upcoming away matches of the FIH Pro League Games in Belgium and The Netherlands as they will really help the team in growing further as a unit," Indian Women's Hockey Team goalkeeper Savita said.

"Our team has made remarkable improvement over the past few months and we are training really hard to continue on the same trajectory. We are gaining confidence each day and will hope to give our best performance at the FIH Hockey Women's World Cup 2022," she added.

Ahead of the prestigious event, the Indian Women's Hockey Team will compete against Belgium in the FIH Hockey Pro League 2021/22 matches on June 11, 2022 and June 12, 2022. They will next fly to the Netherlands to face off against Argentina on June 18, 2022 and June 19, 2022. On 21 June 21 and June 22, the Indian Women's Hockey Team will face off against the United States. Indian Women's Hockey Team are currently occupying the third spot in the FIH Pro League table behind Argentina and the Netherlands.

Indian Women's Hockey Team defender Deep Grace Ekka further spoke on how getting more playing time against strong teams will help the players before the FIH Hockey Women's World Cup 2022.

"We have a busy schedule ahead of us in the lead-up to the FIH Hockey Women's World Cup 2022, and we are looking forward to it because the more games we play against the stronger teams, the better prepared we will be for the tournament. Everyone is focusing on their fitness and paying more attention to the post-match recovery process to be prepared for the tournament," Deep Grace Ekka said.

"The upcoming FIH Hockey Pro League 2021/22 games are a great platform as they will also assist us in adapting to the conditions there," she added.

( With inputs from ANI )

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