Indian women's team skipper confident ahead of tough Netherlands clash

Ritu Rani

The Indian women’s hockey team face an uphill task against the number one ranked Netherlands in the quarter-final of the Hockey World League. Indians were drawn against the Dutch after finishing 4th in Pool B and Netherlands topped Pool A by winning all their matches.

Indian women’s team skipper Ritu Rani has ensured that the team is ready to take on the Netherlands tactically and it won't be a one-sided contest.

She said, “Playing against the World No.1 Netherlands will surely be a challenge and we are looking forward to give our best shot. We will try not to give away penalty corners easily as we did in the last matches. The girls are excited and ready to take on Netherlands tomorrow.”

The Dutch have scored a mammoth 26 goals in their 4 league stage matches while conceding just once in the process. Paumen Maartje is the Oranje’s topscorer, having found the back of the net 8 times!

The Indian women’s team head coach, Mathias Ahrens, has asked the team to be more skillful against the Dutch and to defend together as a unit. He believes that the team is confident ahead of their match against the top-ranked team.

He admitted, ”We need to focus on our ball possession and penalty corner conversion rate as the Netherlands is a tough team and it is not easy to tackle them. The girls are willing and able to help each other out at any given point during the game and work as a unit and this is what makes us a better team than others.

India, who won just 1 match and lost 3 in the league, will meet Netherlands in the quarter-final of HWL on 30th June.

The match will be telecast live on StarSports at 21:30 IST.