After a solid 2-0 win over China to finish in third place and claim the bronze medal at the Women's Asia Cup 2022, the Indian team will now gear up to face off against China in FIH Hockey Pro League 2021/22 matches in Oman.
India will play two matches against China on January 31 and February 1 in Muscat, Oman as they look to open their campaign in the tournament on a positive note.
Speaking on the challenge in store, India chief coach Janneke Schopman said that they are excited to start their FIH Hockey Pro League 2021/22 campaign against a strong China team.
"We are excited to start our Pro League campaign and look to build on our performance in the Asia Cup by hopefully creating and converting our opportunities as well as having a clinical defense," Schopman said in an official release.
"China has shown to be a good team here in the Asia Cup. While they did not finish in the top three, their game stats show that they were even to all top 3 teams," she added.
Savita, who will continue to lead the team as captain in the FIH Hockey Pro League 2021/22 matches against China, said that they would look to build upon their recent performances at the Women's Asia Cup 2022.
"We not only managed to qualify for the FIH Hockey Women's World Cup Spain & Netherlands 2022 but also earned a podium finish. We are happy with how the team is shaping up and are looking forward to building upon the same in the upcoming matches," Savita said.
"It was a good tournament for us to not only get an understanding of our opponents, but also learn how the team reacts in certain situations on the field, and how we can replicate what we are learning in the training. We are eager to play in the FIH Hockey Pro League for the first time and continue to improve and gain confidence," she added.
( With inputs from ANI )
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor