India look to cross Italian hurdle
Bolstered by the campaign-saving draw against the mighty USA, the Indian women’s hockey team will fancy their chances against lowerranked Italy in the crossover World Cup match, in London on Tuesday.
Ranked 10th, India will start favourites against 17th ranked Italy in the crucial knock-out match, where a win will pit them against Ireland in the quarterfinals on Thursday.
While India had to fight their way into the knockout round from Pool B after registering two draws against England and USA and a loss to Ireland, Italy easily scrapped past China 3-0 and Korea 1-0 before slumping to a heavy 1-12 loss to the Netherlands in their last match to finish second in Pool A.
But going into morrow’ game, the momentum surely will be on India’s side. It might also be difficult for Italy to bounce back from the moraleshattering loss against the Dutch.
Under pressure, India on the other hand, produced a spirited performance against USA on Sunday night to come out of a difficult situation and salvage their World Cup campaign.
Having conceded a goal in the 11th minute, India’s backs were against the wall and it took a valiant all-round effort and an inspiring goal from skipper Rani Rampal in the 31st minute to secure the allimportant draw, a result which shut the doors on the Americans.
Rani said the team needs to be fully focused for the crucial encounter.
“We need to just focus on ourselves, build on our strength and ensure we use our positive points in the match against Italy.”