FIH Hockey Women's Junior World Cup | Indian team to open campaign against Wales

She further highlighted the team's preparations in the lead to the tournament, having landed in Potchefstroom almost a week ahead of their first match. "Coming here early has helped us tremendously. We have been able to get a good amount of training sessions here which has helped in acclimatizing to the weather. It gets very warm and humid during the day. It definitely helped to have our last camp before coming here in Bhubaneswar, Odisha where we trained in quite hot conditions." 

The Indian team will begin their campaign against Wales on 2nd April 2022 followed by their second Pool D match against Germany. They will take on Malaysia in the third match and will hope to play the quarter-final on 8th April while the Semi-Finals and Final will be held on 10th and 12th April respectively. "Definitely the team is confident of putting up our best performance. We are well-prepared and have a good mix of experienced players. Our aim will be to take it match-by-match, get off to a good start and play as per plan," added Tete, who was one of the youngest members of the Indian Women's Team that finished fourth at the Tokyo Olympic Games. 

The Indian team also played two warm-up matches against England and Netherlands, both games ended in a draw. "We played 4x10 minutes warm-up matches against England and Netherlands. It gave us insights into the areas we need to prioritize. We were creating many chances but didn't convert enough. However, the fact that we have all been in the National program for the last 3-4 years helps us understand each other's game well and overcome setbacks if any. We look forward to a good start," Ishika concluded.