VALENCIA: The Indian Women’s Hockey Team will look to continue their winning run in the FIH Women’s Nations Cup 2022 when they face Ireland in the semi-final in Valencia on Friday.
The Savita-led team began their campaign with a dominant 3-1 win over Chile, before defeating Japan 2-1 and South Africa 2-0 in their third Pool B match to top the group with 9 points and secure their place in the semi-final, according to a press release from Hockey India.
The FIH Women’s Nations Cup 2022 is an important fixture in the international calendar as it brings in a system of promotion-relegation, with the champions being promoted to the 2023-24 FIH Hockey Women’s Pro League.
Reflecting on the team’s performance, Captain Savita Punia said, “We have performed admirably in the FIH Women’s Nations Cup 2022, so far. The game against Chile was excellent, as we dominated from the start. We also performed well against Japan, which is strong defensively and poses a tough challenge.
Our players brought their A-game to the field against South Africa in the most recent match, giving us a lot of confidence heading into the semifinal.”
Savita added, “Of course, we want to win the tournament as it will also allow us to play the FIH Hockey Women’s Pro League 2023-2024. We participated in the previous edition of the tournament and it was a wonderful experience for us. Playing in the Pro League will serve as good preparation for the Asian Games and the 2024 Paris Olympics.”
On the last-four tie against Ireland, Savita said India were looking forward to bringing their ‘A game’ to the field against the Irish.
“As I said, we will look to continue our winning run against Ireland. They finished second in Pool A and are a strong team. They can upset any team on their day. We will use all of our resources against them,” Savita said.
India will take on Ireland on Friday at 2015 hours (IST). (ANI)