Indian women’s team look to win maiden Jr Asia Cup hockey title

Kakamighara: The Indian women will look to replicate the success of their male counterparts when they begin their campaign at the Junior Asia Cup hockey tournament beginning here on Saturday.

The Indian junior men’s team defeated arch-rivals Pakistan 2-1 in Salalah, Oman on Thursday night to lift the Asia Cup title.

And the Indian junior women team would be eager to follow in the footsteps of the men’s side and win its maiden Asia Cup crown.

India will open their campaign against Uzbekistan on Saturday.

The women’s Junior Asia Cup, which will conclude on June 11, will also serve as a qualifier for the forthcoming FIH Junior Women’s World Cup later this year.

Notably, the top three teams in the women’s junior Asia Cup will earn automatic qualification

for the FIH Junior Women’s World Cup to be played in Santiago, Chile from November 29 to December 10 this year.

Captained by Preeti, India have been grouped in Pool A along side

four-time champions Korea, Malaysia, Uzbekistan and Chinese Taipei, while hosts Japan, China, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, and Hong Kong China, are in Pool B.

India have won a silver and four bronze medals in the tournament’s seven editions thus far.

Speaking on the team’s preparation ahead of the tournament, captain Preeti said,

“We have worked hard over the past few months for this tournament and now we are all geared up to implement everything that we have worked on during training

sessions.