Indian women’s hockey team looks to end home leg on a high

Rourkela: Bruised and battered, the Indian women’s hockey team will look to end the campaign at home on a high note when it takes on Australia and the USA in the Pro League here over the weekend. Having failed to qualify for the Paris Olympics, the Savita Punia-led team’s performance has gone from bad to worse against the top sides in the ongoing FIH Pro League, losing five of their six matches.

After suffering a 1-2 defeat in their first match against China, India went on to lose 1-3 to the Netherlands and 0-3 to Australia before beating the United States 3-1 in their final match of the Bhubaneswar leg.

In their first match of the Rourkela leg, India took the lead early but China came back strongly to win the game 2-1.

Although they produced a much-improved defensive show against Netherlands in the previous game, they lacked sharpness and innovative moves upfront and their penalty corner conversion rate remains abysmal.