Hockey
India v Australia Women's Hockey Series: Preview, Schedule, Live Streaming
Here is everything you need to know about the Indian women's team tour of Australia in preparation for the Asian Games.
Indian Women's Hockey team (Source: Twitter/Pratt)
The Indian Women's Hockey Team will face Australia in a five-game down-under trip with the first one being played on May 18 at MATE Stadium in Adelaide.
The team led by ace goalkeeper Savita and Vice Captained by Deep Grace Ekka will play Australia in the first three games of the series, followed by two matches against Australia A.
The tour is part of the Indian team's preparations for the upcoming Hangzhou Asian Games 2023, which will take place in September-October this year.
The Indian team will open their tour with a match against Australia on the 18th of May before playing back-to-back games on the 20th and 21st of May. The visitors will then compete against Australia A on the 25th and 27th of May. The Australian Women's Hockey Team is currently ranked third in the world, while the Indian team is ranked eighth.
Notably, the Indian Women's Hockey Team left for Adelaide on 14th May and since then they have been training there to get acclimatized to the conditions in Australia.
Speaking on the same, Captain Savita said, “We are training every day and even under the lights so that the team gets used to the field and circumstances in Adelaide as our matches are scheduled to take place in the evening.”
“We even had our training session this morning, and the team did some gameplay as we are getting ready for our first game tomorrow,” she added.
Meanwhile, Janneke Schopman, the Chief Coach of the Indian Women's Hockey Team, said that the team is all geared up to play against Australia.
“Players are excited and ready to take on Australia. The weather is quite nice here. We are feeling good and are ready to show what we’ve been working on in the last couple of weeks,” Schopman said.
Interestingly, the Indian Women's Hockey Team defeated Australia 1-0 in the Semi-Finals of the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
It was a historic victory for the Indian team 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.
The Indian team also fought hard against Australia in the Commonwealth Games 2022 Semi-Final 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, which they lost to England. Meanwhile, India won their 3rd/4th place match to take the Bronze medal home.
Schedule
May 18, Thursday: India vs Australia at 14:15 IST
May 20, Saturday: India vs Australia at 14:15 IST
May 21, Sunday: India vs Australia at 13:45 IST
May 25, Thursday: India vs Australia A at 14:15 IST
May 27, Saturday: India vs Australia A at 14:15 IST
Where to Watch, Live Streaming
India's tour of Australia will be telecast live on DD Sports. While the rest of the world can view the matches on watch. hockey. In Australia, the matches will be live on Fox Sports/Kayo and also through the online platform, LiveHockey.
