Savita, the captain of the Indian women’s hockey team, believes that the forthcoming tour of Spain would assist “pinpoint the areas that demand immediate attention” as well as provide the younger players an opportunity to distinguish themselves and join the Asian Games roster.
When India travels to Spain to play in the 100th Anniversary Spanish Hockey Federation-International Tournament, which is set to take place from July 25 to 30, they will have the chance to put their abilities and team combinations to the test.
In a news release from Hockey India, Savita was cited as stating, “It will be a crucial tournament for us as it will enable us to pinpoint the areas that demand immediate attention and require collective effort to improve as a team.”
India will compete against South Africa, England, and host Spain in the four-nation competition.
In a sense, it will serve as a litmus test for us before the Asian Games since we will be competing against some of the best teams in the competition.
A gold medal in the Asian Games, which will be held in Hangzhou in September-October, would guarantee the team’s automatic qualification for the Olympics in Paris the following year.
Last week, the junior squad won India’s first-ever women’s junior Asia Cup trophy by defeating four-time champions Korea 2-1 in the summit match.
The 33-member core probables group for the Asian Games, which includes youngsters like Sunelita Toppo, is now working out at the senior women’s national coaching camp at SAI the camp in Bengaluru till July 11.
Additionally, each player will now need to demonstrate her talent in every practise and game in order to join the Asian Games team. The youth team, which just won the Asia Cup, is full of excellent players who will be vying for spots on the senior squad.
“As a result, no player can consider her position on the squad a given. Everybody has a chance to make the Asian Games squad or not. I think that robust competition for team spots like this will only serve to increase the side’s intimidating nature.
Savita said that the squad is concentrating on “refining the structure and tactics of the team” at the current national camp. We are presently concentrating on giving every session at the national camp our all, which is really important for us as it offers us the chance to improve the team’s structure and tactics in advance of the Asian Games.
Our duty is made simpler since we are aware of what our coach wants from us as a team.
Savita spoke on the performance of the Indian team during their recent visit to Australia, where they competed in five games against the locals.
“In Australia, we didn’t play well in the first game, but that was to be expected considering that it had been four months since we had played international hockey. As a result, the group had certain challenges in developing their synergy.
“Despite this, we were able to maintain our position throughout the trip. Our staff is starting to become more and more like this in terms of resilience.
That will be our main strength in the Asian Games, she said. “We thrive in playing together and battling jointly, making it a hard task for any opponent to beat us.
