Bengaluru, May 27 (Hockey News) Indian women's hockey team captain Savita is confident of a good show at the Asian Games as the postponement of the continental event in Hangzhou provides the side with more training time and improve just like it did when Tokyo Olympics was deferred by a year.
Having already dealt with the postponement of the 2020 Olympic Games which was rescheduled for 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Indian team is yet again faced with the same situation where the Asian Games have been postponed indefinitely.
"We will once again deal with this postponement as an opportunity to train and be better prepared for the Asian Games," Savita said on the Hockey India podcast 'Hockey Te Charcha'.
"The one-year postponement for the Olympics gave us significant time to improve and personally for me, I got to work closely with Janneke (Schopman), who has had a great impact on my improvement as a goalkeeper," she added.
One of the most successful goalkeepers in recent times, Savita will lead the Indian team in the FIH Pro League matches in Europe ahead of the FIH Women's World Cup which begins in July "Having finished fourth in Tokyo, everyone took notice of us. Earlier, there were expectations from the men's team only. But now, people expect the women also to finish in top three in any tournament we play and that is good for the sport," "No one expected we will go beyond the quarterfinals in the Olympic Games. Many of our supporters thought we would reach upto the quarterfinals at the outset, but I don't think anyone believed we could win the quarter finals.
"This zeal to win and not to give up till the last second of the match was inculcated by our coaching staff. We had to, and we knew we would change the script of Tokyo," added the experienced goalkeeper who .
Speaking about the team's preparations here in SAI, Bengaluru, for the Pro League and World Cup Savita said the side is hoping for a top four finish.
"There is a lot of excitement ahead of the Pro League matches in Europe as well as the Women's World Cup. Last time, we exited in the quarter-finals but this time we will do our best to finish in the top 4."
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News Source : PTI
