New Delhi, 22 June 2015: Looking ahead to their first encounter against each other in the FINTRO Hockey World League Semi Final 2015, both India and New Zealand are all geared up to lock horns at Antwerp, Belgium tomorrow. With both the women teams having some of the finest players on their side, the sides are engaged in last minute strategizing to gain edge over the other's might.
While New Zealand started their outing by defeating Poland with a bumper 12-0 win in the inaugural match of the tournament, the FIH ranked # 13 India, lost to Belgium by 0-1 in their opener and will look at turning the tables around in their favour to ensure that they beat New Zealand tomorrow. Nevertheless, it is the excellent team effort by the girls that is helping India in gearing up extra confidence in the next pool match.
Prior to this, India and New Zealand women hockey teams recently had a head-on in the pool phase of the Hawke's Bay Cup 2015 where India went down struggling to New Zealand 1-4. They had also met earlier twice in the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games where India lost to New Zealand by 0-3 and had also won a match against them by 3-2. This time all hopes are hooked on to India as they ready themselves to display a power packed and confident performance with a clear intent to secure a place at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
To make New Zealand's going tough, will be the brilliant goalkeeper Savita who showed incredible reflexes to restrict the opponent's scoring in the last match played against Belgium. However, Indian eves need to improve in their ability to convert the penalty corners but, their strong defence and fine positioning is likely to work in favour of India.
Speaking ahead of their clash against New Zealand, India Captain Ritu Rani said, “The first match against the home team Belgium was tough as they had an advantage of playing in front of the home crowd. But we stuck to our structure really well. New Zealand is a good team and it is an important match for us. Although the result of the previous match was not in our favour, we are not losing hopes and will certainly come back in tomorrow's match.”
Looking forward to the match tomorrow, Chief Coach Mathias Ahrens commented, “I am happy with the way girls performed in the last match. We lacked in a few areas which were quite visible but we will ensure good possession of the ball and try to put pressure on New Zealand by attacking their defence line. We will remain confident and try to convert more chances in our favour tomorrow.”
Indian Women Team will take on New Zealand on 23 June 2015 at 05.30 pm IST. The matches of the FINTRO Hockey World League Semi Final 2015 will be telecast LIVE on Star Sports.
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