Potchefstroom (South Africa): Having marched into their first-ever Semi Final match since 2013, the unbeaten Indian Junior Women’s Hockey team will look to continue their dream run in the FIH Hockey Women’s Junior World Cup campaign when they take on the mighty Netherlands on Sunday.
While the Netherlands, topped pool A to make the Quarter Finals where they beat hosts South Africa 5-0, table toppers from pool D India beat Korea 3-0 in their Quarter Final match. Talking about their progress in the tournament so far, Captain Salima Tete said, “We came into this tournament with great determination to win every match we play. As a team, we know we will be able to achieve results if we focus on ourselves, execute the plans we have for our opponents. For tomorrow’s match too, we will be more focused on what we can do as a team.”
With experienced players in their ranks, the Indian Junior Women will be vying to demonstrate good discipline, structure and bring big-match temperament to the Semi Final against Netherlands. “The exposure we have gained in these past years will be important when we play a team like Netherlands who are extremely good. There will not be any room for mistakes and it’s great that most of the players got an opportunity to play for the Senior side in the Hockey Pro League so they are now better equipped to handle pressure in tense situations,” added Tete, who was part of the Indian team at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.
That the Senior squad won the match against the Netherlands in the ongoing FIH Hockey Pro League has also encouraged their junior counterparts to emulate them. “We watched the Pro League matches our seniors played against Netherlands. No doubt, we are very inspired by the way they have been performing, the team is quite upbeat about the match tomorrow,” she concluded.
India will play Netherlands in the Semi Finals at 1700 hrs IST on Sunday, 10th April 2022.
Matches will be live streamed on watch.hockey as well as FanCode app
