Ranchi, Jan 18:
The Indian women’s hockey team is all set tof ace Germany in the semifinal of the FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifiers Ranchi 2024 following the 5-1 victory over Italy in their final Pool B match. A win in the semifinals will ensure the Indian team qualification for the Paris Olympics 2024.
The Indian team started off on the backfoot with a 0-1 loss to USA in their first gamein the group stage but came back strongly to beat New Zealand 3-1 int heir second game which was a must-win match. They carried their goodform into their final group stage game against Italy, whom theycomfortably beat 5-1. They will go into the Semi-Finals with theirconfidence riding high following back-to-back wins after having theirbacks to the wall after the loss in the first match.
Ahead ofthe all-important semifinal captain of the Indian Savita said, “We’ve already played Germany a few times and have donewell. We’re confident in our abilities as a team and have the game toput up a solid performance. Our attacking game is quite good. Germany isa good team so we will have to be on top of our defense and try toconvert any chances we get.”
Despite Germany being the highest ranked team in the tournament andIndia’s head-to-head record with the Germans not being too favorable, the Indian team will look to draw inspiration from their hard-fought win over their counterparts in the 2021-22 FIH Hockey Pro League played in Bhubaneswar in March 2022.
The Indian women’s hockey team chief coach Janneke Schopman said, “Germany has a lot of good playersbut we have a quality side that has shown they can do well underpressure. We are one game away from a spot in the Olympics. We will treat the semifinals like a final and give it our all.”
