London, Jun 16: Having started their European leg with two narrow defeats, the Indian women’s hockey team will be eager to bounce back when it takes on world No. 2 Argentina in back-to-back matches in the FIH Pro League.
Salima Tete and her side went down 1-2 and 2-3 to Australia over the weekend and will have little time to regroup before facing a formidable Argentine outfit that has won seven of its 12 league matches so far.
“Argentina is ranked No. 2 in the world and has won 7 of their 12 FIH Pro League matches so far. Coming into this leg of the league, we knew they would be one of the toughest teams to beat,” Tete was quoted as saying by Hockey India.
“But we won’t go down without a fight — we’ll give it our all in both matches. The team has been training well to take them on and has been working on various strategies to win crucial points against them,” she added.
India, currently seventh in the standings with nine points, are aiming for a turnaround. Argentina sit second on the table and will be eyeing full points to keep pressure on leaders Netherlands.
“As you saw, the team gave Australia a tough fight in the last two matches, and we’re planning to do the same against Argentina,” vice captain Navneet Kaur said.
“We’ll give it our all and aim to come out victorious. A win against Argentina will not only help us gain points but will also give the team a big morale boost as we head to Antwerp and then Berlin for our matches against Belgium and China,” she added.
India will play their first match against Argentina on Tuesday followed by the second match a day later.
