Fiji Times Logo

Fiji Time: 11:13 PM on Saturday 25 May

/ Front page / Sport

India women's skipper not taking unknown Fijians lightly

Mereseini Marau In New Delhi
Monday, February 18, 2013

The Indian women's hockey team will not take their Fijian counterparts for granted when they meet on Thursday in their Hero Hockey World League Round 2 encounter in New Delhi.

Indian captain Ritu Rani said their aim was to qualify for the World Cup and they were focused on that.

A woman of very little words, Haryana said they would try to leave a big score margin against all their opponents.

Just like her male counterpart Sardar Singh, Rani said they respected all the teams and they knew everyone was prepared for this tournament.

Keeping in mind the preparations for the tournament, the Indian teams started their training camp from January 4 and continued until the commencement of the event, a part of the qualification process for the International Hockey Federation Women's World Cup 2014 to be held in The Hague, Netherlands.

Fiji skipper Melba Nautu said her side was trying to acclimatise to the cold Delhi weather.

The side had two training sessions in the weekend, trying out the pitch at the tournament venue at Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium before their match against Japan today.

"Most are still jet-lagged and also not used to the weather so we are trying to shake it off," she said. "We will not let the cold get to us, we will go out there and play our very best It's very cold here, we are just not used to it, but we will overcome it."

The Shaun Corrie-coached side had their first training run in the cold Delhi rain on Saturday night.