India are favourites, says Italy’s coach

Ritu Sejwal, TNN

NEW DELHI: “India will be the favourites as they have the home advantage,” Italy’s coach Fernando Ferrara said after the team’s fairly long warm-up session at the National Stadium on Saturday.

Italy enter the Olympics qualifiers as the third-ranked team, but the sincerity with which they went about their practice showed they mean business. “It was to gain in confidence,” team manager Giovonni Rossi said.

On the qualifiers, Ferrara said: “It’s going to be difficult and we must play our best match by match.”

Hockey may not be a popular sport back home in Italy but the visitors have done their homework well. The young team underwent a month long training session in Argentina and Germany. “Hockey is not very popular in Italy, as it’s not highlighted on TV much,” Ferrara, who is coaching the team for the last five years, said.

Unlike Italy, the Canadian team – ranked No. 2 in the world in 90s – decided to take its first practice session lightly, mixing warm-up drills with some dance moves. “It’s a big challenge, but we will go all out in the tournament,” Canadian captain Katie Baker admitted. “Most of our players are from the CWG squad.”

An impending milestone the Canadians are excited about is that Stephnie Jameson will become the highest capped player for the country with her 164th international outing during the tournament.