Indian women’s hockey team recover from losses to beat Olympic Champions Great Britain

The Indian women’s hockey team registered a morale-boosting 1-0 win over reigning Olympic Champions Great Britain on their ongoing tour of New Zealand. The sole and winning goal of the match was scored by the team’s captain Rani when she netted a shot in the 47th minute.

However, the celebrations of this victory have to be moderated by the fact that Great Britain’s main team is currently busy with the FIH Pro League 2020 for Women. Hence, this win for the Indian side is good but also can’t be seen as a massive triumph.

Coach Sjoerd Marijne expressed his thoughts on the match after its completion. “We created enough chances and now we need to keep working on converting those chances but our defence stood strong through the match which was a good thing,” the coach stated.

Indeed, scoring goals and converting chances remains a priority for the Indian team. After starting their campaign in New Zealand with a 4-0 win over the hosts’ developmental squad, the Rani-led side suffered two defeats at the hands of the New Zealand team. In their last three matches, the Indian eves have scored only two goals, something that would worry the team management.

Considering that the team has a formidable forward line with Rani herself leading the way and having others like Lalremsiami and Navjot Kaur for support, the lack of scoring will concern the coach.

India’s next match with Great Britain would take place tomorrow. It has to be remembered that despite being the Olympic Champions, Team GB are not a very strong side at the moment. Retirements of key players have reduced their strength. This is another reason why this win shouldn’t lead to too much complacency.