Rourkela (Odisha)[India], February 19 : The Indian men's hockey team will meet Spain in the first game of the Rourkela leg of the FIH Hockey Pro League 2023/24 on Monday at Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium. The previous time India played Spain in the Bhubaneswar leg, they won by 4-1.
India have played four matches in the Pro League. They defeated Spain and Ireland 4-1 and 1-0, respectively, before losing 4-6 to Australia. Meanwhile, their match against the Netherlands finished in a 2-2 tie, with India collecting the additional point following a penalty shootout that ended 4-2.
In a pre-match press conference, Indian men's hockey team captain Harmanpreet Singh said that the team is eager to take on Spain in the Rourkela leg and these are significant matches before the Paris 2024 Olympics.
"Spain and all the other teams here are hard to play against. In addition to our first match with Spain, we learned a lot from our matches against Australia and the Netherlands and the game against Ireland was tough as well. For us, these are major matches before the Paris 2024 Olympics, the team has performed well so far and we are keen to take on Spain again in Rourkela to further test ourselves," Harmanpreet said of his team's performance in the Pro League so far.
After their contest against Spain, India will battle the Netherlands on Wednesday, Australia on February 24 and Ireland on 25.
Spain on the other hand, lost their matches against India, Australia, and the Netherlands by 1-4, 3-4, and 0-3 respectively. In the last match of the Bhubaneswar leg they registered a 4-2 victory against Ireland.
"We want to win every game and the game against India is no different. This time we will aim to improve on our penalty corners and our movement in the attacking circle, the game was closer than the score line suggests and we just need to be focused in and around the circle and I'm sure we will give India a tough contest," commented Spain's captain Marc Miralles ahead of their clash against India.
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