Lagatar24 Desk
Ranchi, Oct 26: The eagerly awaited Women’s Asian Champions Trophy 2023 is approaching rapidly, with its commencement scheduled for this upcoming Friday. The event is set to be hosted at the Marang Gomke Jaipal Singh AstroTurf Hockey Stadium in Ranchi.
India, China, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, and Thailand are among the six teams who are prepared to compete. Each of the six teams will play five games in the round-robin phase of the competition, with the top four teams moving on to the semifinals.
Although the defending champions, Japan, who are also the gold medalists from the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou 2022, China, are sure to attract a lot of interest, the Indian women’s hockey team is also arriving as the frontrunners for the championship title. India, led by Savita, is keen to start a successful campaign after their performance in Hangzhou, where they won a bronze medal.
Indian captain Savita, underscoring the importance of these games said, “In tournaments like these, no team can be taken lightly. We are looking forward to these matches as they will help us test our mettle against some of the most formidable teams in Asia. Of course, we want to win every match and perform well here, preparing for the Paris 2024 Olympics Qualifiers, which will also be hosted in Ranchi. This tournament serves as a vital preparatory test before the ultimate challenge of securing an Olympic berth.”
Chief Coach Janneke Schopman echoed the captain’s viewpoint, saying, “Playing these matches ahead of the Olympics Qualifiers is a great opportunity. It allows us to study the other teams and assess how players perform their assigned roles. Our recent performances in the Asian Games were promising, and I am excited and eager to see our team in action.”
India’s engagement with the event starts on Friday, October 27, with a match against Thailand. On Saturday, October 28, 2023, the team will play Malaysia. They will next play their third game against China on Monday, October 30, and their next match against Japan on Tuesday, October 31. On Thursday, November 2, the team’s last pool match is against Korea. The knockout stage matches will come after that.
India is striving to claim their second championship, having previously won in 2016. They were the second-place finishers in the 2013 and 2018 tournaments and achieved a third-place position in 2010.
India is hosting the Women’s Asian Champions Trophy for the first time.
