Muscat: Indian women hockey team would seek momentum of historic Tokyo Olympics campaign when it opens title defense against Malaysia at the Asian Cup here on Friday.
Indian women recorded their best Olympic result after finishing fourth in Tokyo last year, narrowly missing the podium.
Savita Punia side-LED, the most experienced in the tournament, will now hope to use that experience to good effect in the first major event after the Olympics.
Savita goalkeeper will lead the party in the absence of Rani Rampal, who has been rested to recover from a hamstring injury.
Savita has acknowledged that India’s experience will be key to the success of the team in the prestigious quadrennial tournament, which is also a qualifying event for the FIH World Cup women this year, to be accommodated jointly by Spain and the Netherlands.
“The best part about this team is that, many of us have been playing together for a long time and I feel the experience and Camaraderie team will give us an edge over other teams.” Our main priority is to stay focused on our game and make sure we execute the plan against each team without making a mistake, “said Savita on the eve of their opening.
The defending champions are grouped in pool together with Japan, Malaysia and Singapore.
After Malaysia, the people of India will play against Japan on Sunday.
Before securing against Singapore in a game pool their final on January 24.
Skipper India also stressed on the need to make a positive start to the tournament.
“We’ve played Malaysia several times in the past and they are a side that good.
Doing well against them will give us a proper start to the tournament, “said Savita.” As a team, we believe the focus on our own game and not worry too much about what you can or can not be done by the opposing team.
We just want to play to our strengths.
“Campaign Tokyo also has been instrumental in cultivating an attitude of ‘never give up’ on the players.” One of the good quality of the team is that we have learned to fight to the end.
We do not give up if we have a few goals.
I feel these aspects will mean when we are playing quality teams in important tournaments like this where qualifying for the Women’s World Cup FIH stake, “said Savita.
Go bidar, India is expected to reach its peak.
The top two teams of two.
Swimming will meet requirement for the semi-finals to be played on January 26, followed by the Summit Clash on January 28.
technically, the Indian woman will not play the first competition they post the Tokyo Olympics because they have traveled to Donghae, Korea to Asia.
Champions League a few months ago but was forced to withdraw after just one game because of a positive case covid positive in the squad.
From that standpoint, the Asian Cup will be a huge task first for new head coach Janneke Schopman, who Analyst Technical team in Tokyo under Sjoerd Marijne.
Asian Cup will start a busy calendar for India where they will perform in Birmingham Comm onwealth Games, Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, where I was a qualifying tournament for the Olympic Games of Paris 2024, in addition to making their debut in the Pro League FIH.
In the other match of the pool A on Friday, Japan will play Singapore while in the swimming pool r B, South Korea facing Indonesia and China take on Thailand.