Team USA arrives in Odisha for FIH Hockey Pro League

BHUBANESWAR: The United States Women’s Hockey Team landed at the Biju Patnaik International Airport in Bhubaneswar, Odisha on Monday to begin their FIH Hockey Pro League 2023/24 campaign.

Having secured a spot at the Paris 2024 Olympics at the recently concluded FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifiers Ranchi 2024, the United States are now focused on securing a FIH Hockey World Cup 2026 spot through the FIH Hockey Pro League 2023/24.

The FIH Hockey Pro League 2023/24 (Women) is scheduled to take place at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar from 3rd to 9th February, before moving to the Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium in Rourkela, where the league will continue from 12th to 18th February. Five national teams – India, China, the United States of America, the Netherlands, and Australia – will participate in the India leg of the FIH Pro League 2023/24, facing each other once in Bhubaneswar and once in Rourkela.

The United States will face the Netherlands in the opening game of the FIH Hockey Pro League on 3 February. Their second game will be against Australia on 6 February, followed by a clash with China on 7 February. They will then face India in the last match of the Bhubaneshwar leg on 9 February.

Their previous encounter with the Indian Women’s Hockey Team was in the FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifiers Ranchi 2024 which the United States won by 1-0.

Shedding light on the way forward for the team, Captain Amanda Gollini said, “We are looking forward to getting back into it, obviously coming off the Olympic Qualifiers, we got the result that we wanted. Now we’ve set some new goals to prepare for the year ahead.”

“The Pro League is very important in the lead up to the 2024 Olympics, it presents us with a opportunity to prepare for the Olympics. But it is imperative that we trust the process, take it one game at a time, and not get ahead of ourselves,” she elaborated.