The Indian team has been placed in Pool B along with England, New Zealand and China in the upcoming FIH Women’s Hockey World Cup, the country’s governing body for the sport said on Thursday.
The tournament will take place in Spain and the Netherlands from July 1.
The Indian team recently qualified for the World Cup after finishing third in the Asia Cup in Muscat.
Speaking about the competition in her pool, India’s goalkeeper Savita said, “It’s a tough pool with England (world no. 3) and New Zealand (world no. 8) who are above us and China can always surprise .
“As a team, we have always believed that we need to focus on ourselves and not what the opponent can do. But now that we know who we play in the pool stage, we can plan our preparations accordingly and we look forward to the challenge.”
The Indian women’s team finished last year at the Tokyo Olympics with the best ever finish.
The team also finished in the top eight for the first time in the previous edition of the World Cup, when they drew 1–1 with England, lost 0–1 to Ireland, who went on to play the final against world champions Netherlands, and It was a 1–1 draw against USA in the group stage.
“It was a very good tournament for us and it instilled a great sense of self-confidence. The draw against England in 2018 at their home ground was very important for us and we came very close to beating Ireland in the quarter-finals but lost in a shootout after a 0-0 draw,” recalled Savita.
The senior player said that the team is better prepared this time.
“With our experience in the last three-four years, especially in big events like the Olympic Games in Tokyo, I think we are mentally better prepared to do well in the World Cup this time,” he said.
Savita further stressed that the upcoming FIH Hockey Pro League matches will help her prepare well in the lead up to the prestigious quadrennial event.
“We will play England at home in the Pro League matches in April and we have already played China. I believe playing other top teams in the world like Belgium, Argentina etc. will definitely help us in our World Cup preparations.”
The Netherlands are placed in Pool A along with Germany, Ireland and Chile.
Hosts Spain will face Argentina, Korea and Canada in Pool C and Australia, Belgium, Japan and South Africa will face each other in Pool D.
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