New Delhi, 16 May (H.S.):

Indian women’s hockey team captain Salima Tete has said that the team is fully prepared to deal with any pressure ahead of its tour of Australia. She added that the training camp at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) centre in Bengaluru is progressing with great hard work and discipline.

Describing the team’s experience from the Argentina tour as positive, Salima said the upcoming matches against Australia will be extremely important in terms of preparation for major tournaments such as the next World Cup and the Asian Games.

Speaking through Hockey India, Salima said, “Australia are a strong team, and playing against them will give us experience of competing at a high level. We are quite excited about this tour and will try to give our best performance. The coaching staff is continuously working hard with us.”

She praised the young players and said that new talent is being given regular opportunities in the team and is performing well too. According to the captain, the team’s balance and future both look strong.

Highlighting fitness as the team’s top priority, Salima said, “Every player is working very hard on fitness. Fitness is extremely important to beat any strong team. The junior players are also focusing on improving their fitness. We performed well in the World Cup qualifiers, but there is still room for improvement.”

She said the Argentina tour was an important learning experience for the team, as playing against top-level sides there helped build the players’ confidence and improved their understanding of team combination.

Salima said, “The whole team performed well in Argentina. The experience there will help a lot in preparing for the Australia tour, the Nations Cup, the World Cup and the Asian Games. Our focus is currently on the Australia tour, and we want to maintain the same rhythm there as well.”

She added, “We want to play in a disciplined manner and according to our strategy. Every player will have to work on their strengths and weaknesses so that we can perform better as a team. There will definitely be pressure, but we are fully ready to handle it.”

The Indian women’s hockey team will be on tour in Australia from May 21 to June 3. During this period, the team will play four matches against Australia at the Perth Hockey Stadium between May 26 and May 30. The tour is considered an important part of preparations for the FIH Women’s Nations Cup to be held in Auckland, New Zealand.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar