India will open their campaign against Canada on the first day of the FIH (International Hockey Federation) Junior Women’s Hockey World Cup to be held in Chile’s capital Santiago. The Indian team has been placed in Pool C along with Belgium, Canada and Germany in the tournament to be held from November 29 to December 10.
As per the pools and schedule announced on Thursday night, India will open their campaign against Canada on November 29 and will be followed by Belgium and Germany on December 1 and 2 respectively. To add to the excitement ahead of the prestigious event, FIH also released the Junior Women’s World Rankings. According to this, India is sixth, while Netherlands is on top.
Argentina, Germany, England and the US are at the second, third, fourth and fifth places respectively. Having won the Women’s Junior Asia Cup in Japan earlier this month, the Indian team will head into the World Cup high on confidence and will be aiming to win the tournament for the first time.
The Indian team missed out on a bronze medal in the World Cup last season after reaching the semi-finals. In the third-fourth place match, the team had to face defeat in the penalty shoot-out against England. Indian captain Preeti said, ‘We know that each pool is full of talented and strong competitors. We are looking at this as an opportunity to showcase our skill, determination and teamwork on a global platform. We have faith in our abilities and will give our best in every match.
Women’s team head coach Yanek Schopman said, “The morale of the team has increased after winning the Asia Cup. However, the World Cup will be much more challenging as we will face strong teams from all over the world. Each match of the tournament will test our skills, teamwork and fighting spirit.
Junior women’s team head coach Harvinder Singh said his team needs to improve in certain areas to challenge the top teams in the world. He said, ‘Yes, the team is very excited but even after the historic win in Japan, it knows that there is a need to improve in some areas. We have identified those aspects and are working on them.
As per the tournament format, each team will play each other three teams one-on-one in the pool stage and the top two teams from each pool will advance to the quarter-finals.
Pool A: Australia, Chile, Netherlands, South Africa.
Pool B: Argentina, Korea, Spain, Zimbabwe.
Pool C: Belgium, Canada, Germany, India.
Pool D: England, Japan, New Zealand, America.
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