~The Junior Ladies made historical past by profitable their maiden Junior Asia Cup title this 12 months~
Bengaluru, twenty seventh December 2023: The Indian Junior Ladies’s Hockey Workforce had some memorable outings in 2023, with their dearest recollections emanating from the Ladies’s Junior Asia Cup in Japan. The Workforce defeated Korea 2-1 within the Remaining to raise the Junior Asia Cup trophy for the very first time in India’s historical past.
The primary worldwide outing for the workforce was within the India U21 Tour of South Africa in February. The Indian Workforce defeated the South African U-21 workforce in all three video games and have been held to a 4-4 draw by South Africa’s ‘A’ workforce of their final match. The unbeaten Indian Junior Ladies’s Hockey Workforce was then nicely poised to battle the very best Asian Groups within the Ladies’s Junior Asia Cup, following a interval of intense coaching.
An 18-member squad flew to Kakamigahara, Gifu Prefecture, Japan, and emerged as Champions of the Ladies’s Junior Asia Cup 2023 by defeating Korea with a rating of 2-1 in a fascinating Remaining match. All of the 18 members of this triumphant Indian Junior Ladies’s Hockey Workforce have been a part of the Goal Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) Nationwide Centres of Excellence (NCOE).
Reminiscing the swell of feelings after lifting the Ladies’s Junior Asia Cup 2023, Indian Junior Ladies’s Hockey Workforce Captain Preeti mentioned, “We have been elated to deliver again the trophy, and the truth that we have been the primary group from India to win the Ladies’s Junior Asia Cup 2023 was the icing on the cake. One thing clicked within the squad again then, we have been enjoying free-flowing hockey, scoring a great deal of targets within the course of, and we have been destined to win. The love and help we obtained upon returning was overwhelming and I’m grateful we received to expertise that.”
Because the Workforce ready for the FIH Junior Hockey World Cup 2023, former Indian Males’s Hockey Workforce Captain Tushar Khandker was roped in to spearhead the event of the Indian Junior Ladies’s Hockey Workforce in June. In August, he was joined by Herman Kruis, charged with the duty of overseeing each Indian Junior Hockey Groups.
For a ultimate take a look at run, the Indian Junior Ladies’s Hockey Workforce participated within the 4 Nations Event – Dusseldorf 2023 the place they confronted Germany, Spain, and England in August this 12 months. In the meantime, defender Sonia Devi Kshetrimayum and ahead Dipi Monika Toppo have been a part of the squad that received the inaugural Ladies’s Asian Hockey 5s World Cup Qualifier in Salalah, Oman.
The second of reckoning arrived because the workforce made its solution to Santiago, Chile to stake their declare for the FIH Hockey Ladies’s Junior World Cup 2023 in November. After an ecstatic victory in opposition to Canada within the opening match, the Indian Junior Ladies’s Hockey Workforce misplaced to Germany and Belgium to crash out of their Pool. However their spirit remained intact, inspiring them to beat New Zealand, Korea, and america within the classification matches and finally completed ninth within the World Cup.
Reflecting on the trials and tribulations of 2023, Preeti mentioned, “All-in-all it was a memorable 12 months, we began on the best foot however fell quick within the FIH Hockey Ladies’s Junior World Cup 2023. Though we desired a greater end result within the World Cup, the expansion of the workforce this 12 months has been astounding. The gamers improved technically, gained tactical information, and confirmed nice psychological resilience when it was most required. I’m proud that I received the chance to steer this Indian Junior Ladies’s Hockey Workforce.”
