India will now come up against Australia in search of a semi-final spot. The Australian team boasts the best defensive record thus far in the Olympics, having conceded just one goal in the entire group stage and picking up an impressive 15 points out of 15.
Sjoerd Marijne
Indian women’s hockey team chief coach Sjoerd Marijne believes the onus will be on Australia, heading into the quarter-final clash today, adding that his side was in “good rhythm” ahead of the knockout match.
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The Indian women’s team have made history by entering the knockout stages of the Olympics for the first time. “The pressure will be on Australia as they are one of the highest-ranked teams in the competition. We will be able to play freely, which is very important for us. Our own focus is on approaching each game one at a time and to keep improving with every match,” said Marijne.
The team had left Indian shores for Tokyo with the target of reaching the quarters and it managed that by finishing fourth with two wins and three defeats in the six-team Pool A.
India will now come up against Australia in search of a semi-final spot. The Australian team boasts the best defensive record thus far in the Olympics, having conceded just one goal in the entire group stage and picking up an impressive 15 points out of 15.
However, Marijne said that India must not get preoccupied with the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition. “We have to keep playing our game, like we did in the group stage. We won our last two matches because we learnt from the mistakes we made early on and made improvements accordingly. We have been creating a lot of chances throughout the competition, but our conversion of those chances has not been up to the mark. We need to get better in that department, while also giving away fewer chances to the opposition.”
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