Focus on race for title
Y. B. SARANGI
The points table of the four-nation Lal Bahadur Shastri under-21 women’s hockey tournament is interesting to look at even though India enjoys the advantage of being the leader with four points.
At least three sides, including the host, are in the reckoning for berths in the final. New Zealand and Germany, with three points each, will give their best in Friday’s last round-robin encounters against Australia and India respectively.
Australia, with one point from two matches, has got an outside chance to make the final. Considering the level of competition seen so far, it is difficult to predict the finalists.
India, after one win and a draw, will need at least another draw to make the summit clash.
The undefeated home team, comprising under-18 girls, has treated the competition as one of the preparatory tournaments for the 2013 under-21 World Cup.
One saw two aspects of the home team’s game in the fixtures against New Zealand and Australia. The Indian girls attacked the Black Sticks to secure a 3-2 victory, while they defended well to deny the Jillaroos a goal.
EXPERIENCE WILL HELP
Chief coach B.K. Subramani stressed the fact that he wanted to build the team for the future.
“Those who played at the junior Asia Cup have not played teams from outside the continent,” he said. Subramani added that the experience of facing such tough opponents would help the girls become better.
Stamina was one of the key issues with games on two consecutive days. However, the coaching staff was hopeful that the girls would become stronger with more training. The Australian team holds a high opinion about the Indian side. “Their standard is really high and they are very skilful. They gave us a good fight,” said Jane Claxton on Thursday.
Another player, Karri McMahon also rated the Indians as very strong opponents.