With bronze on mind, girls look to overcome semis pain

Potchefstroom, April 11

Their dream of winning a maiden FIH Junior Women’s Hockey World Cup title shattered, India need to lift their morale quickly to match their best-ever finish when they take on England in the bronze medal tie here on Tuesday.

India had a memorable campaign in the tournament till the semifinals, where they lost 0-3 to three-time champions Netherlands.

India had an unbeaten run in the pool stages, which included a 2-1 win over Germany, who will play the Dutch in the title clash.

India would look to at least finish on the podium, like they did in the 2013 edition in Monchengladbach, Germany. In 2013, Netherlands had defeated India 3-0 in the semifinals. India, led by Sushila Chanu, had faced England in the bronze medal tie, eventually winning after a tense shootout.

But it remains to be seen whether the Salima Tete-led side can recreate the 2013 script on Tuesday.

“We are quite disappointed from our match against Netherlands. We created so many chances but could not convert. It just felt like it wasn’t our day,” Salima Tete said. “There is no point thinking about what’s happened in the past. Now we need to be focused on the upcoming match against England. Getting off to a good start against them will definitely give us the right momentum and that is what we will be looking for against them,” Tete added.

In attack, India would be banking heavily on Lalremsiami, Sharmila Devi and Mumtaz Khan, who is India’s top-scorer with six goals. —