Junior Hockey Asia Cup: Indian women to face DPR Korea in their opening match

Junior Indian hockey team captain Rani Rampal

The Indian junior women’s hockey team will play the Democratic Public’s Republic of Korea in their 1st match of Pool A in the upcoming Junior Women’s Asia Cup to be played at Changzhou, China. The tournament will commence from 5th September 2015 and the winners will qualify directly for the 2016 Junior Hockey World Cup.

The young Indian side is grouped with the likes of China, Malaysia, Singapore and the Democratic Public’s Republic of Korea, while Pool B comprises of Thailand, Chinese-Taipei, South Korea and Japan.

The head coach of the Indian side, Mathias Ahrens has assured that the team will play a good attacking game and has to score the much important first goal of the match. He said, "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 a surprise element and can stun us,” as reported by Hockey India.

“We are confident of a good start in the tournament”

The Indian team will be facing DPR Korea for the very first time in their history and are not taking their new opponents lightly. The Dutchman insisted that the team is confident of a good start to the tournament and they will get a lot of help from the 1-month preparatory camp that all the players attended just before they departed for the Asia Cup.

He added, “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 quick goals. We are confident of a good start in the tournament.”

“We will start aggressively”

The captain of the side, Rani Rampal is confident of a good show in China. She insisted that the team will play according to their strategies and assured that the team will play aggressive hockey.

She said, “It’s time to implement our strategies on the 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 while keeping the pressure on the opponents.”

The Indian team will face DPR Korea on 5th September and will start at 12:30 IST.