Young team ready to deliver, feels Hawgood

GLASGOW: With a well balanced unit at his disposal, India women hockey team’s chief coach Neil Hawgood is confident that his young team will deliver their best result at the upcoming Commonwealth Games here.

The India eves could not have asked for a better preparation ahead of the Glasgow Games as they routed Malaysia 6-0 in an away Test series recently to gain confidence.

“While the team is young but the kind of play they showed in the recent Malaysian Tour gives me reasons to be proud of them and confidence that we will deliver our best performance here,” Hawgood said ahead of the Glasgow Commonwealth Games to be held from July 23 to August 3.

“The girls are focused on their first match against Canada and we are working on the right team combination keeping the opponents in mind,” he said. “The practice sessions are helping us to get acclimatised to the weather conditions.”

India are placed in Group A along side Canada, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago and South Africa.

India will open their campaign against Canada on July 24 followed by matches against New Zealand (July 27), Trinidad and Tobago (July 28) and South Africa (July 30).