PREVIEW
On a roll with three consecutive wins, a assured Indian girls’s hockey staff would look to protect towards complacency when it takes on lower-ranked Eire within the semifinal of the FIH Nations Cup on Friday.
The Savita Punia-led staff has been unbeaten within the event thus far with wins over Chile (3-1), Japan (2-1) and South Africa (2-0) to high Pool B.
Regardless of that, the Janneke Schopman-coached staff has been removed from convincing within the division of penalty nook conversion, which nonetheless remained its greatest concern.
On the premise of world rating, quantity eight India will begin as favourites towards Eire (world no. 13) however it wouldn’t be that simple to beat the Europeans who had completed second in pool A.
The Indians have been spectacular within the midfield and forwardline with the likes of Salima Tete, Sonika, Navneet Kaur, Navjot Kaur, Vandana Katariya, younger Magnificence Dungdung dwelling as much as the expectations.
However, the defence has been cagey on events with Deep Grace Ekka and Gurjit Kaur searching of kinds when put underneath strain.
Skilled goalkeeper Savita got here to India’s rescue on quite a few events along with her good anticipations and reflexes to maintain the profitable run intact.
Within the different semifinal, hosts Spain will tackle Japan.
The eight-team event is necessary for India because it brings in a system of promotion-relegation, the place the champions might be promoted to the 2023-24 FIH Hockey Girls’s Professional League, a key occasion forward of subsequent 12 months’s Asian Video games and 2024 Paris Olympics.
-PTI
Head-to-head between India and Eire
Eire holds a slight benefit over India having gained six out of their 12 conferences in comparision to India’s 4 wins and two attracts.
What occurred the final time the Indian girls staff took on Eire?
Final time India went up towards Eire was throughout the Tokyo Olympic Video games 2020, the place India scored a purpose to edge previous the Irish.
When and the place will the FIH Girls’s Nations Cup 2022 semifinal between India and Eire be held?
India and Eire will combat it out towards one another within the FIH Girls’s Nations Cup 2022 semifinal match at Valencia, Spain on December 16, Friday from 8:15 pm onwards IST.
The place can one watchthe FIH Girls’s Nations Cup 2022 semifinal between India and Eire?
Reside streaming of the Girls’s FIH Nations Cup 2022 might be accessible on the FanCode app in India. There might be no dwell telecast of the occasion on any TV channel in India.
