Ambitious India opens against US with Olympics berth at stake

RANCHI: Putting behind the disappointment of finishing third at Asian Games, the Indian women’s team will look to cash in on home advantage and secure a ticket to Paris as it faces the USA in its FIH Olympic Qualifiers opener on Saturday.

Hosts India, Germany, Czech Republic, Italy, Japan, US, Chile and New Zealand are the eight teams vying for the top three slots here to book its Paris berths.

World number five Germany are the highest ranked team in the tournament, while India are a rung below in sixth. New Zealand is ninth in the rankings chart, followed by Japan (11th), Chile (14th), US (15th), Italy (19th) and Czech Republic (25th).

India are placed in Pool B alongside New Zealand, Italy, and the United States, while Germany, former Asian Games champions Japan, Chile and Czech Republic are in Pool A.

After the US game, India will meet New Zealand (January 14) and Italy (January 16). The semi-finals will be played on January 18 and the final is scheduled on January 19.

“We did not qualify for the Olympics from the Asian Games and we know it was a missed opportunity. But we don’t dwell on the past,” India’s chief coach Janneke Schopman had said at the pre-tournament press conference.

“We are hoping to do well in this tournament. We need to be better (than before) and if we play to our best, we can qualify for the Olympics (from here).”

The build-up to the tournament has been far from rosy for the Indians with veteran striker Vandana Katariya being ruled out of the event just nine days prior to kick-off after fracturing her cheekbone during a training session.

Vandana, who recently became the first woman to earn 300 caps for the Indian team, was a vital cog in the forward line. She has been replaced by young Baljeet Kaur.

Going forward, the Indians would look to improve upon their penalty conversion rate which has been a problem area for long. Just before this tournament, the drag flickers had a short stint with former India stalwart Rupinderpal Singh, which should hold them in good stead in the coming matches.

The Indian women had wasted plenty of penalty corners in the tournaments since winning the Asian Champions Trophy here, including in the Asian Games.

“Rupinder has the expertise as he is an experienced player. He knows the pressure on the top of ‘D’. It was a great help for the likes of Gurjit Kaur and Deepika to fine-tune their skills. I am very happy with that,” Schopman said. Meanwhile, in other matches of the day, Germany will face Chile, Japan will take on Czech Republic, and New Zealand will square off against Italy.