Birmingham: With a podium finish on its mind, the Indian women’s hockey team would look to put their disastrous World Cup campaign behind and start afresh against Ghana Commonwealth Games Opener on Friday.
The Indians are placed in Pool A along with hosts England, Canada, Wales and Ghana, while Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Scotland and Kenya complete Pool B.
Like their male counterparts, Indian women returned empty-handed from the previous edition of the Games in Gold Coast, finishing fourth after a 0-6 loss by England in the bronze medal play-off match.
Going to the latest games, the Indians were troubled by their poor performances in the recently concluded World Cups in Spain and the Netherlands, where the Savita Punia-led side finished a disappointing ninth.
The now-Jaineke Schopman-coached team will be desperate to prove it’s a far better outfit than most recent results. They will be desperate to prove that a historic fourth-place finish at last year’s Tokyo Olympics was not a fluke.
Indian women will also be hoping to break their 16 years of medals brought to the Games. India’s last medal – a silver – came at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. The only other medal Indian women have won at the Games since the introduction of hockey in 1998 was a gold at the 2002 edition in Manchester.
“We were disappointed with our performance in the last edition of the tournament, but this time we will definitely do better,” skipper Savita said during a virtual press conference on Thursday.
“We are confident about our chances of winning a medal and a resounding win against Ghana will provide the right start to our 2022 Commonwealth Games campaign.”
Apart from a stellar Olympic campaign, the Indians will also be credited for finishing third in their first Pro League this season.
But to finish on the podium, the No. 9 Indians will have to beat world No. 3 Australia, World No. 5 England and World No. 8 New Zealand, who are also strong medal contenders.
In the previous edition of the Games, New Zealand won the gold ahead of Australia and the Trans-Tasman rivals will have their chances at this Games as well.
Australia dominated women’s hockey at the CWG, winning four gold medals, one silver and one bronze.
It is expected to be easy for India in their opening two pool games against world number 30 Ghana and world number 24 Wales (on Saturday), but Savita’s side will face their first real challenge against England on August 2. Will face His pool campaign against No. 15 Canada.
With the top two teams from each pool progressing to the semi-finals, India and England are the clear favorites from Pool A, unless something drastic happens.
But the recent World Cup has exposed some flaws in India’s armor which they need to fix quickly.
While penalty corner conversion remains a major concern for the Indian women, the forward players also need to tighten their girth.
In the World Cup, the Indians created plenty of open play as well as scoring opportunities from penalty corners, but squandered most of the opportunities.
Coach Schopman may be expecting a much better show from his forward and drag-flicker Gurjit Kaur,
India vice-captain Deep Grace Ekka said: “We will look to beat Ghana from the first whistle to make sure we can beat them just like last time.”
“We would like to move the ball quickly so that we can enter Ghana’s defence. For the past few years, we have been playing an aggressive style and we would like to continue that way.”
Canada will face Wales in the second Pool A match of the day.
The Indians are placed in Pool A along with hosts England, Canada, Wales and Ghana, while Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Scotland and Kenya complete Pool B.
Like their male counterparts, Indian women returned empty-handed from the previous edition of the Games in Gold Coast, finishing fourth after a 0-6 loss by England in the bronze medal play-off match.
Going to the latest games, the Indians were troubled by their poor performances in the recently concluded World Cups in Spain and the Netherlands, where the Savita Punia-led side finished a disappointing ninth.
The now-Jaineke Schopman-coached team will be desperate to prove it’s a far better outfit than most recent results. They will be desperate to prove that a historic fourth-place finish at last year’s Tokyo Olympics was not a fluke.
Indian women will also be hoping to break their 16 years of medals brought to the Games. India’s last medal – a silver – came at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. The only other medal Indian women have won at the Games since the introduction of hockey in 1998 was a gold at the 2002 edition in Manchester.
“We were disappointed with our performance in the last edition of the tournament, but this time we will definitely do better,” skipper Savita said during a virtual press conference on Thursday.
“We are confident about our chances of winning a medal and a resounding win against Ghana will provide the right start to our 2022 Commonwealth Games campaign.”
Apart from a stellar Olympic campaign, the Indians will also be credited for finishing third in their first Pro League this season.
But to finish on the podium, the No. 9 Indians will have to beat world No. 3 Australia, World No. 5 England and World No. 8 New Zealand, who are also strong medal contenders.
In the previous edition of the Games, New Zealand won the gold ahead of Australia and the Trans-Tasman rivals will have their chances at this Games as well.
Australia dominated women’s hockey at the CWG, winning four gold medals, one silver and one bronze.
It is expected to be easy for India in their opening two pool games against world number 30 Ghana and world number 24 Wales (on Saturday), but Savita’s side will face their first real challenge against England on August 2. Will face His pool campaign against No. 15 Canada.
With the top two teams from each pool progressing to the semi-finals, India and England are the clear favorites from Pool A, unless something drastic happens.
But the recent World Cup has exposed some flaws in India’s armor which they need to fix quickly.
While penalty corner conversion remains a major concern for the Indian women, the forward players also need to tighten their girth.
In the World Cup, the Indians created plenty of open play as well as scoring opportunities from penalty corners, but squandered most of the opportunities.
Coach Schopman may be expecting a much better show from his forward and drag-flicker Gurjit Kaur,
India vice-captain Deep Grace Ekka said: “We will look to beat Ghana from the first whistle to make sure we can beat them just like last time.”
“We would like to move the ball quickly so that we can enter Ghana’s defence. For the past few years, we have been playing an aggressive style and we would like to continue that way.”
Canada will face Wales in the second Pool A match of the day.