Indian men's team keen to take on Spain in FIH Hockey Pro League

ROURKELA: The Indian men's team are set to face Spain in the first match of the Rourkela leg of the FIH Hockey Pro League 2023/24 on Monday at Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium. India emerged victorious 4-1 the last time they faced Spain in the Bhubaneswar leg.

India have thus far played four matches in the Pro League. They won their games against Spain and Ireland by a 4-1 and 1-0 margin respectively and registered a 4-6 loss to Australia. Meanwhile, their clash against Netherlands ended as a 2-2 draw, with India claiming the bonus point after a penalty shootout which ended with a 4-2 score line.

Reflecting on the team's performance in the Pro League so far, India captain Harmanpreet Singh said: "Spain and all the other teams here are hard to play against. In addition to our first match with Spain, we learned a lot from our matches against Australia and the Netherlands and the game against Ireland was tough as well. For us, these are major matches before the Paris 2024 Olympics, the team has performed well so far and we are keen to take on Spain again in Rourkela to further test ourselves."

After their contest against Spain, India will battle the Netherlands on February 21, Australia on February 24 and Ireland on February 25.

Spain on the other hand, lost their matches against India, Australia, and the Netherlands by 1-4, 3-4, and 0-3 respectively. In the last match of the Bhubaneswar leg they registered a 4-2 victory against Ireland.

"We want to win every game and the game against India is no different. This time we will aim to improve on our penalty corners and our movement in the attacking circle, the game was closer than the score line suggests and we just need to be focused in and around the circle and I’m sure we will give India a tough contest," said Spain's captain Marc Miralles ahead of their clash against India.