After finishing third in Pool B, the Indian Women's Hockey Team will take on hosts Spain in the FIH Women's Hockey World Cup crossover match for a place in the quarter-final on Sunday in Terrassa, Spain.
The Indian team led by goalkeeper Savita played out two thrilling draws against England (1-1) and China (1-1) respectively before suffering a narrow 3-4 loss against New Zealand in their pool stage of the tournament.
Indian Women's Hockey Team will square off against FIH Women's World Cup hosts Spain on July 10 at the Estadio Olimpic de Terrassa.
Reflecting on the campaign so far, Savita said, "We knew the pool matches were going to be really tough. We fought hard and never gave up, but it's just that the results haven't been in our favour. However, we should quickly put it behind us, and focus on what's next. We are still in contention and will give our everything to qualify for the Quarter-Finals."
Meanwhile, Vice-Captain Deep Grace Ekka stressed on the need to make further improvements. "I think we could have played a lot better in the three matches we played. We created many chances in the pool stage, especially in the last game, but our conversion was not up to the mark. So, we certainly have to improve on our conversion, we have to be more clinical. At the end, it's all about converting those opportunities," she stated.
The home side Spain registered two wins and a loss in the pool stage. They started their campaign with a 4-1 win against Canada but lost 1-4 to Argentina in their second match. However, they bounced back with a 4-1 victory over Korea to finish second in Pool C.
The last time when India and Spain faced each other was during the FIH Hockey Pro League 2021/22, where both teams shared the honours. India won the first match 2-1, while Spain responded with a 4-3 win in the second leg of the double-header held in Bhubaneswar, Odisha earlier this year.
Speaking about the match-up against Spain, the Indian Captain said, "Spain are a very good team and they are playing at their home so it will be a challenging match. However, we have played against them in the Pro League this year, so we are quite familiar with how they have been playing in recent times. But, the focus tomorrow will be on ourselves, on how we execute our plans. We will have to play our A-game against them for sure."
She said the team will go into the game without putting too much pressure and their focus will be on playing good hockey.
"We have got a great opportunity to qualify for the Quarter-Finals and carry forward the momentum from there. However, we will go into the game without putting too much pressure. We just need to play to our strengths and just focus on playing good hockey because eventually, that will help us get the desired results," she said.
( With inputs from ANI )
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