New Delhi. The Organizing Committee of the FIH Junior Women’s Hockey World Cup 2023 announced the pool and schedule for the much awaited tournament to be held from 29 November to 10 December 2023 in Santiago, Chile.
Ahead of the prestigious event, FIH also revealed the new junior women’s world rankings, according to which India is ranked sixth, while Netherlands is ranked first. Meanwhile, Argentina, Germany, England and the United States are ranked second, third, fourth and fifth respectively. Explain that India is the top-ranked team in the continental rankings.
The Indian team has been placed in Pool C along with Belgium, Canada and Germany. The Indian team will begin its campaign against Canada on 29 November. After this, they will face Germany in their second match on 1 December and Belgium in their third and last pool match on 2 December.
Having recently won the Women’s Junior Asia Cup 2023 in Japan, the Indian junior women’s hockey team will be going into the FIH Junior Women’s World Cup 2023 with a lot of confidence.
The Indian team came close to winning the bronze medal in the last edition of the FIH Junior Women’s Hockey World Cup but lost 2-2(0-3) to England in the third place match.
On the reveal of the pools, Women’s Junior Asia Cup 2023 winner captain Preeti said, “We are thrilled to see the unveiling of the pools for the World Cup. It is an exciting moment for our team as we compete against some of the best junior teams from around the world. ready to do.”
Preeti said, “We know that each pool is full of talent and tough opponents, but we see this as an opportunity to showcase our skill, determination and teamwork on the global stage. We are confident in our abilities. And we will give our best in every match.”
Meanwhile, Indian women’s team head coach Janke Schoepmann said, “After winning the Asia Cup, the team is full of confidence. But 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 resilience. The pool draw reinforces the need for us to raise our game and push beyond our limits to achieve success.”
“However, we believe in our team’s ability and ability to rise to the occasion. We aim to form a cohesive unit that performs with a never-say-die attitude, and stays true to our game plan in the face of challenges presented by each opponent. We will leave no stone unturned in our preparations to ensure that we are well prepared for the tournament.”
As per the tournament format, each team in the pool stage will play the other three teams in their pool once and the top two teams from each pool will advance to the quarter-finals, while the remaining teams will play for the classification positions.
Notably, the defending champions Netherlands are the most successful team in the FIH Junior Women’s Hockey World Cup, having won the title four times, followed by South Korea and Argentina, who have won the coveted trophy twice each. Germany has won the tournament once.
The pools for the Junior Women’s Hockey World Cup 2023 are as follows:
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, United States.
Read the Latest India News Today on The Eastern Herald.
