Asia Cup to help us prepare for bigger challenges: Savita

Captain Savita, who is leading in the absence of the injured Rani Rampal, said pre-departure that the team will focus on itself and its strengths.
Asia Cup to help us prepare for bigger challenges: Savita

BENGALURU, Jan 16: The India women's hockey team, led by goalkeeper Savita, left for its first major international assignment of the new year on Sunday morning, boarding the flight to Muscat (Oman) to defend its Asia Cup title at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex. The team was training at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) centre here and will begin its campaign against Malaysia on January 21. The final will be played on January 28.

Apart from Malaysia, India will compete against China, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand for the trophy and the top-four teams in Muscat will qualify for the 2022 FIH Women's Hockey World Cup to be held in Spain and the Netherlands.

Captain Savita, who is leading in the absence of the injured Rani Rampal, said pre-departure that the team will focus on itself and its strengths.

"Our main focus will always be on ourselves. We have seen videos of recent matches of Malaysia Japan, Korea, China, and other teams and we have prepared for them. But every team has their strengths and weaknesses and hence, we aim to focus on ourselves," Savita said.

"We have to ensure we remain strong when taking and defending penalty corners. When we play attacking hockey, we must ensure we also remain tight on defence. If we focus on our strengths, then the opposition will themselves find it difficult to challenge us," she added.

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