The Indian Women’s Hockey team will be looking to continue their momentum in the Women’s Nations Cups as they will face Ireland in the semifinals of the event. The Indian Eves started off their campaign with a 3-1 win over Chile, followed by a 2-1 win over Japan and then a 2-0 win over South Africa in the last game.
They will now look to continue that momentum in the semifinals as they will face a tricky Ireland team. The Women’s Hockey team topped the group with 9 points and made it to the semifinals with relative ease. But it is from here the Indian team will have to restart as knockouts can be tricky for the Savita Punia led team.
The Nations Cup is a very important tournament in the calendar as winning it will mean that the team will gain direct promotion to the 2023-24 Hockey Pro League. Hence the Indian team are looking to win the tournament and gain promotion to the Pro League. Savita Punia has been extremely impressed with how the players have fared in the tournament till now.
Reflecting on the team’s performance, Savita 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 performed well against Japan, a strong defensive team that always presents us with a 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 Semi Final.”
The captain and goalkeeper shared how it was a great experience for them to play in the Pro League last time. Therefore they are eager to win this tournament and get there back again. She feels that it will be a big learning for the upcoming Paris Olympics and Asian Games. “Of course, we want to win the tournament as it will also allow us to play in the next season of 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 a good preparation for Asian Games and the 2024 Paris Olympics”
Savita Punia is aware that the team cannot take anyone lightly as it may come back to haunt them. In knockouts, no team is easy and Ireland are a pretty good team. Speaking about the semifinals and Ireland the Indian captain 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 any given day, and we will use all of our resources against such a team.”
