The Indian women's hockey team have a very difficult job at hand to make it to the semi finals of the FIH Women's Hockey World League semi finals 2017. Rani Rampal and her women army are up against England at the quarterfinals stage on Tuesday July 18.
In Johannesburg, India have managed to win just once from Pool B and luckily, they moved into the knockout stages by just-about coming fourth in the group stage.
England, on the other hand, won three out of their four matches from Pool A and topped the group.
It is crystal clear that India are massive underdogs going into the match. The victor takes on the United States of America in the semifinals stage.
The vanquished, meanwhile, moves in to a crossover phase and it is then decided which team occupies the fifth to eighth spot in the final standings.
The India men's hockey team had lost out in the quarterfinals of the World League semifinals as well earlier this year, and they finally had to be content with the 5th spot in the final stages.
However, can the India women's hockey team weave some magic? That remains to be seen.
India women's hockey team squad: Savita, Rajani Etimarpu; Deep Grace Ekka, Sunita Lakra, Gurjit Kaur, Sushila Chanu Pukhrambam (Vice Captain), Monika; Renuka Yadav, Nikki Pradhan, Namita Toppo, Navjot Kaur, Ritu Rani, Lilima Minz; Reena Khokhar, Rani (Captain), Vandana Katariya, Anupa Barla, Preeti Dubey.
Match schedule
- Date: July 18
- Time: 7:15 pm IST
Where to watch live (India)
TV - Star Sports 1/HD.
Live stream - Hotstar
Live score - Twitter
