Beaming faces: The junior women’s gamers, who made India proud by profitable the Asia Cup, have been felicitated at SAI, Bengaluru, on Tuesday.
| Photo Credit: SHAILENDRA BHOJAK
The Indian junior women’s hockey staff’s maiden Asia Cup triumph has given hopes of an improved efficiency on the Junior World Cup later this yr, however the women might need to attend some time earlier than making the transition to the senior aspect.
With the Asian Games simply over three months away, coach Janneke Schopman is clear that there received’t be a lot adjustments within the senior core group. “I am quite happy with the performance of the players in the Junior Asia Cup and for me, it was always about using the tournament and the Australia tour for the seniors to have more players in the camp.
“But I think our senior core group is quite competitive at the moment and people know they have to turn up every day to have a chance of being selected,” Janneke stated throughout an interplay on Tuesday.
Tough selection
With the squad to be finalised by mid-July, Janneke admitted it was robust to pick the very best gamers however added that it was not simply concerning the choice trials. “We have been monitoring players from last year.
“Of course it matters how players do at this time and if they are fit and they need to be good because the selectors will be there later this month, but as staff we also know it’s not just that one selection trial. The next couple of weeks will be about making the pieces of the puzzle fit,” she added.
Mumtaz Khan, who scored six targets within the event, defined how the staff had learnt from its errors throughout the earlier Junior World Cup, the place India completed fourth. “We learnt how to control in the dying minutes. We used to get flustered earlier but in Japan we knew the value of every second. We have learnt from our mistakes and moved forward, one step at a time,” she stated.
The junior staff will subsequent journey to Germany for a 5-nation occasion, together with Belgium and Netherlands, and play apply matches with Belgium forward of the JWC, to be held in Santiago, Chile, in December.
