MANY AMONG this bunch of 32 young girls have never boarded an aeroplane till now. But what they would cherish most will be the experience of play- ing in alien conditions during their 13-day hockey tour of Aus- tralia next month.
On Monday, chief coach G S Bhangu was confident that junior women’s hockey team would come up with a good performance during the exposure trip to Brisbane from October 16-19. The team will be playing as many as nine matches on the tour.

Besides playing ‘test’ matches against local teams, the team will also play a few matches in Perth against a team from Australia’s National Coach- ing Centre (NCC).

“This is a good opportunity for our girls to gain experience of playing abroad,” team’s chief coach GS Bhangu told HT at the SAI Sub-Centre. The probables are undergoing a one-month long camp here at the end of which an 18-member team will be picked for the Australia tour.

“In all, we have 10 new girls among the probables. This will be good preparation for the Asia Cup later this year and next year’s World Cup too,” he said.

“Travelling and acclimatising to new conditions and playing against foreign players will help the players get over their inhibition,” he added.

India, which finished third in the 5th Asia Cup Championship at Hyderabad in 2004, would be hoping to reach the final in the 6th edition at Kuala Lumpur from December 13-21. Reaching the final will clinch India’s berth in next year’s Junior Women’s World Cup (Aug 416) in USA.

Bhangu was impressed by the enthusiasm of the girls who take part in two sessions of training daily, four hours in the morning and three in the evening, besides an hour-long videos session. “Their fitness level has improved and all the girls are expected to achieve targets set for them before the camp,” said Bhangu.

“Quick release of the ball, controlling speed of play, stopping of bouncing ball while running are the main areas on which we are working,” Bhangu said. A final 18-member team will leave for Australia on October 15 as their first session of the camp concludes here on Oct 14. The next phase of the camp will start from Nov 1.