Indian women's hockey team to tour Australia as part of Asian Games preparations

The Indian women's hockey team will tour Australia for a five-match series as part of preparations for the upcoming Hangzhou Asian Games.

The tour will commence on May 18 and conclude on May 27.

India will play the Australian national team in the first three games of the series, followed by two matches against Australia A. All the matches will be played at MATE Stadium in Adelaide.

India will play their opening match of the tour on the May 18 before playing back-to-back games on the May 20 and 21. The visitors will then compete against Australia A on May 25 and 27.

The Australian women's hockey team is currently ranked third in the world, while the Indian team is at eighth.

The tour will serve as a warm-up event for the Asian Games, which will take place in September-October this year.

Talking about the same, Indian team chief coach Janneke Schopman said, "Playing Australia in Australia will help us assess where we are compared to the top of women’s hockey.

"More importantly, the series will be crucial for our preparations for the Asian Games in China as it will give us ideal exposure while helping us reckon the areas where we need to make improvements and changes. So, it's a very important tour for us strategically."

India will travel to Australia with a lot of confidence, having won the FIH Women's Nations Cup last December by defeating host Spain in the final.

Furthermore, in January this year, India toured South Africa, where they took on the hosts in four matches and registered comprehensive 5-1, 7-0, and 4-0 victories in the opening three games, while the fourth one ended in a 2-2 draw.

However, during the same tour, the Indian side suffered identical 1-3 losses in three matches at the hands of the Netherlands.

In addition, the Indian team defeated three-time Olympic gold medallists Australia 1-0 in the semi-finals of Tokyo Olympics in 2021. It was a historic victory for India as they were competing in only their third Olympics and qualified for the quarter-finals for the first time, while Australia were three-time gold medallists.

India also fought hard against Australia in the 2022 Commonwealth Games semifinal match in Birmingham, tying the score at 1-1 at the end of regulation time. However, Australia won the penalty shoot-out 3-0 to make it to the final.

Currently, the team is camping at SAI, Bengaluru.