Argentina Tour: Indian Women's Hockey Team To Play First International Competition In January Since COVID-19 Outbreak

Indian women’s hockey team is ready to return to the field after a year-long coronavirus-enforced break. The team will begin its Olympic preparations with its tour to Argentina that commences next week. Preparations for the crucial tournament are in the final leg, with the team scheduled to leave on January 3. The Indian women's team, led by Rani Rampal, will be competing in eight matches against the host, starting January 17.

Rani Rampal expressed her gratitude

A total of 25 players will be participating in this tour alongside seven support staff. “We have a little over 200 days before we arrive in Tokyo for the Olympic Games in July 2021 and it was very important to play matches against a strong team like Argentina,” Indian women’s hockey team captain Rampal said in a release issued by Hockey India.

The team's last international tour was in January 2020 when they travelled to New Zealand for a five-match series. Playing both the New Zealand and Great Britain in the series, Rampal’s team emerged victorious in three of the five matches that they played. Now team India eyeing the Tokyo Olympic Games, which were postponed from July 2020 to July 2021 due to the pandemic. "I am happy that after one year we are able to play international matches. This tour will give us information for the next step to be made in our preparations for the Tokyo Olympic Games. I want to thank Hockey India for their efforts to make this possible and thank SAI for their quick response," Chief Coach Sjoerd Marijne said in a statement.

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“The team is really excited for this opportunity and has been keenly looking forward to this tour, this exposure will make us understand the level we are at after nearly a five-month long National Coaching Camp in Bengaluru,” Rampal added.

Bio bubble for the players

"The Indian women's team will be staying in a hotel where a provision to have separate rooms/halls for the team for all the meals, team meetings, sessions, etc have been made. The accommodation will be on twin sharing basis, where the room sharing partners will remain same throughout the tour who will also be same even in case of the seating arrangement in the team coach/bus, this has been planned carefully keeping in mind all necessary requirements," Hockey India said about the host's plan to create a bio bubble in Argentina for both the teams.

"The team members will not be moving out of the bubble and meeting any third-party source as even while travelling to the match/training venue the team will be travelling in a dedicated transport which will only take upto 80 per cent capacity. The local resources along with the team eg. Team bus/coach, drivers, support staff will all remain the same throughout the tour to avoid any lapses in any way possible. There will be no movement for members to move out of the hotel except for training & match days," it added.

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Last year, team India put an impressive score and won the FIH Women’s Series Finals Hiroshima. They also bagged silver medals at both the Asian Games 2018 and Youth Olympic Games. Indian women's hockey team also finished as runners-up at the Asian Champions Trophy in Donghae, Korea, last year. Their performance at the Olympic Qualifiers in November last year was brilliant as they got better of the USA team to earn their ticket to Tokyo Olympics.

Feature Image Credit: Hockey India

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