Women Junior Asia Cup 2015: Indian eves to encounter DPR Korea for the first time

After a month long preparation camp, India Junior Women Team is all set to take on DPR Korea in their first match of the upcoming 7th Women’s Junior Asia Cup 2015 to be played on 5th September 2015 in Changzhou, China. Placed in Pool A of the tournament, the young Indian eves will face the challenges of China, Malaysia, Singapore and DPR Korea in the pool phase. With the 7th Women’s Junior Asia Cup a qualification tournament for the 2016 FIH Junior World Cup (Women), the India Women Team will do their best to gain maximum out of the tournament and secure a place in the World Cup.

Captained by star player Rani, the team consists of several experienced players who even represent the India Women National Hockey Team. Rani will lead the forward line along with Anupa Barla, Punam Barla, Navneet Kaur and Sonika and will look at inspiring the team with her finishing abilities. Rani played a very important role to steer the team from the front in the recently concluded Volvo Invitational U-21 Tournament, where the Junior team finished at respectable 3rd position and she understands the importance of continuing with her good form in the upcoming tournament.

Vice-Captain Navjot Kaur and talented Lily Chanu will mobilise the midfield area to provide maximum support to the defence-line as well as create opportunities for the forward players. Navjot Kaur, Lily Chanu, Lilima Minz and Renuka Yadav with their add-on experience of representing the India Women Hockey Team will give a huge boost to the team. The defence even boasts of hugely experienced Deep Grace Ekka, Namita Toppo and penalty corner specialist Jaspreet Kaur. Led by goalkeeper Inderpreet Kaur, the defence-line is quite capable to hold attacks from DPR Korea as well as other teams in the tournament.

Both India and DPR Korea will clash against each other for the first time on the opening match and which will prove to be a challenge to understand each others’ game. Though Indian eves will feel more confident because of the experience that they have, they will not be taking the opponents lightly as they might poise surprise threats and malign India’s positive start.

Chief Coach Mathias Ahrens stated: “We have never seen them play but we have the edge in terms of a good and strong team along with experience but we still will not take the match easy as the opponent may have the surprise element and can stun us. We have to watch their every move and play accordingly. We are making sure that there are no loopholes in the team and in the process avoid every room for error. Players have been practising for the last one month and been working on reducing their earlier mistakes. We will play as per our strategy, understand their game and look at scoring the quick goals. We are confident of a good start in the tournament.”

Captain Rani Rampal added: “It’s time to implement our strategies on field and perform our level best for the opening match. The girls are well prepared and confident to take on DPR Korea. We don’t know how they play and that brings the additional challenge of a surprise element. We will start aggressively, take the attack to the opponents and aim to score initially. The idea is to have good ball possession whilst keeping the pressure on the opponents. We are geared-up and looking forward to the match.”

The 7th Women’s Junior Asia Cup 2015 is a qualification tournament for the FIH Junior World Cup (Women) 2016. The upcoming tournament will be played from 5th to 13th September 2015 in Changzhou, China. A total nine Junior Asian teams will participate in this prominent tournament. India’s first clash will be against DPR Korea on 5th September at 1.00 pm IST.