Hockey: Indian women wrap up their Kiwi tour on a winning note
A brace by Navneet Kaur supported by a goal by Sharmila Devi helped visiting Indian women's hockey team to end its tour of New Zealand on a cheerful note. India beat New Zealand 3-0 in the last game.
A determined Indian team ended its tour on a high. Playing its last match of the five-match tour, India stuck to a disciplined structure, remained assertive in its attack and ensured a good finish without letting the pressure daunt its efforts to win. It was Indian striker Navneet Kaur who starred for the team when she set up India's first goal in the 45th minute.
Soon after, youngster Sharmila doubled the lead when she struck a powerful shot past New Zealand goalkeeper in the 54th minute. Navneet rallied back in the 58th minute with a beautiful goal that ensured India won 3-0. While the Indian forwards had stitched together a successful attack that saw them make space in the striking circle, India's defence remained defiant to ensure New Zealand had little chance to score.
"The team ensured a good ending to the tour and I am happy we produced three goals against New Zealand in the last match. This tour gave us a good insight about where we need to improve and one of the things is to create faster play than we do now," expressed Chief Coach Sjoerd Marijne reflecting on the team's performance in the five-match tour.
Though India had begun the tour on a positive note, by winning its first match 4-0 against the New Zealand Development squad, the team had lost the following two matches 2-1 and 1-0 respectively to the New Zealand national team. In their previous match, however, Skipper Rani's lone goal had ensured India register a 1-0 win against Great Britain.
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Expressing his observations about the team's performance during this tour, Marijne said, "Sometimes we tend to keep the ball too long on the stick and then we create pressure to our own self. We need to avoid that by passing faster. On the defence side, we need to be a bit more calmer and need to improve how we tackle. We will have a four week camp after a short break now when we return home. We will be working on these points during the forthcoming camp apart from a few other aspects," stated Marijne.
Lastly, the Chief Coach expressed his gratitude to New Zealand Hockey. He said, "This was a good tour and very organised. I want to thank Hockey New Zealand for their hospitality."
-PTC News
