Rejuvenated India take on Italy for a place in quarters
LONDON: Bolstered by the campaign-saving draw against a mighty USA, the Indian women’s hockey team will fancy its chances against lower-ranked Italy in the cross-over World Cup match, here on Tuesday.
Ranked 10th, India will start as overwhelming favourites against 17th ranked Italy in the crucial knockout match, where a win will pit them against Ireland in the quarter-finals 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 Netherlands in their last match to finish second in Pool A. But going into the game the momentum surely would be on India’s side and it would also be difficult for Italy to bounce back from the morale-shattering loss against the Dutch.
Under pressure, the Indians, on the other hand, produced a spirited performance against USA to come out of a difficult situation and salvage their World Cup campaign. Having conceded a goal in the 11th minute against USA, India’s backs were against the wall and it took a valiant allround effort and an inspiring goal from skipper Rani Rampal in the 31st minute to secure the all-important
draw, a result which shut the doors on the Americans.
The match would come as an added motivation for the Indians as a win tomorrow would provide them an opportunity to avenge their 0-1 loss to Ireland in the pool stages. Experienced India captain Rani knows what it takes to win such crucial matches and said they need to go full throttle.
“We need to just focus on ourselves, build on our strength and ensure we use our positive points in the match against Italy. There is no doubt we need to go all-out in this crucial crossover match if we want to see ourselves in the quarter-final,” said Rani whose goal against USA enabled India to finish third in Pool B.