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The Indian women’s hockey team faces New Zealand on 23rd June in the Hockey World League semi-finals. India suffered a narrow 1-0 defeat to Belgium in their opening encounter and will be looking to make amends.
India, ranked 13 in the world, despite putting up a fight lost at the Brasschaat Municipal Park in Antwerp, Belgium. New Zealand, on the other hand, are coming into the match having hammered World No. 23 Poland, 12-0 in their opening match.
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“The first match against the home team Belgium was tough as they had an advantage of playing in front of the home crowd. But we stuck to our structure really well,” said Ritu Rani.
“We will come back against New Zealand”
The last time India and New Zealand, ranked 4th in the world, faced each other, the Kiwis emerged victorious 4-1 at the 2015 Hawke’s Bay Cup.
Skipper Ritu Rani said that the team is not losing hope despite the result in their opening encounter going against them.
“New Zealand is a good team and it is an important match for us. Although the result of the previous match was not in our favour, we are not losing hopes and will certainly come back in tomorrow’s match,” the 23-year old said.
In the match against Belgium, Indian goalkeeper Savita showed incredible reflexes to restrict the opponent’s scoring and she needs to have another good performance. Indian eves also need to improve the penalty corners conversion rate.
The Indian women’s team coach Mathias Ahrens admitted that the side lacked in a few areas against Belgium, but expressed happiness at the way his team played.
Chief coach Mathias Ahrens said, “I am happy with the way the girls performed in the last match. We lacked in a few areas which were quite visible, but we will ensure good possession of the ball and try to put pressure on New Zealand by attacking their defence line.
“We will remain confident and try to convert more chances in our favour tomorrow.”
India vs New Zealand is live at 5:00 pm on Star Sports.
