Indian women's hockey team leaves for Asian Games

Bengaluru: The Indian women's hockey team is well prepared and will look to seal an Olympic berth with a good show at the Asian Games, said skipper Savita ahead of the side's departure for Hangzhou, China.

The Indian women's hockey team, which is placed in Pool A along with Korea, Malaysia, Hong Kong China and Singapore, left for China on Tuesday night.

The quadrennial event gets underway in Hangzhou on September 23.

India will open their campaign at the prestigious event against Singapore on September 27.

Japan, China, Thailand, Kazakhstan, and Indonesia are placed in Pool B. The top two teams from each Pool will qualify for the semifinals.

The gold medal winning team will directly qualify for next year's Paris Olympics.

"We have had a long and strenuous National Camp where we worked on all the areas where we need to improve. We have formulated our strategies as per our strengths and we have studied our opponents as well, thoroughly to understand their styles of play," Savita said in a release.

"We hope to have a good tournament and get positive results. Our target is to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics and so we are aware of the importance of the tournament and what we need to do to achieve our goals." The women's team includes goalkeepers Savita and Bichu Devi Kharibam. Deep Grace Ekka, Ishika Chaudhary, Nikki Pradhan, and Udita form the defence line, while Sushila Chanu, Monika, Navneet Kaur, Neha, Nisha, Salima Tete, Sonika, and Vaishnavi Vittal Phalke constitute India's midfield.

Deepika, Lalremsiami, Sangita Kumari, and Vandana Katariya have been included in the team as forwards.

"The good thing for us is that we have a blend of experience and youth among our ranks. All the players are eager to display their best, and are in their best frame of mind to showcase their talents on the field,” vice-captain Deep Grace Ekka said.

"We know we have some strong teams in our pool, but all of us see this as an opportunity to showcase how much we have grown as a team and individuals over the past year. We know we would have to adjust to the surroundings quickly, and we are prepared to do that to ensure we can completely focus on our game," she added.

After the opening match, India will face Malaysia on September 29, Korea on October 1 and Hong Kong China on October 3.