The Indian women’s hockey team’s two FIH Pro League matches against England, which were earlier postponed due to COVID-related issues in the English side, have been called off, handing the Savita-led side the top spot in the standings. The two matches were initially scheduled for April 2 and 3 at the Kalinga Stadium here, but were postponed due to the high number of COVID-19 cases and injuries in the England team. The Indian team is now awarded six points for the two games that were canceled – three each for a match.
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“The FIH Hockey Pro League match between India and England (Women) was initially scheduled to take place on April 2 and 3 in Bhubaneswar, India, but was postponed due to a large number of COVID cases and injuries affecting the English team. has been done, will unfortunately be cancelled, eventually,” the world governing body said in a statement.
“In fact, despite all the efforts of Hockey India, England Hockey and FIH, no date could be found for rescheduling the matches in India. Consequently, it has been agreed between the FIH and the 2 countries that the 6 points available for these 2 matches will be awarded to India.”
With six points from the two matches cancelled, India overtook Olympic champions Netherlands to top the standings with 22 points. The Dutch are second with 19 points while Germany (13) is third.
India beat the Netherlands 2-1 in the first match of the two-legged encounter here on Friday and beat the Netherlands 1-3 in a shootout in the second game on Saturday.
Speaking about his team’s performance in the home matches here, India’s head coach Geneke Schopmanoff said, “If we look at the initial games played against China in Oman and then here against Spain, we took a lot of steps , A lot of things better than the opening matches, but there is still a lot to learn, a lot to improve.
On Saturday’s match against India’s defeat in the shootout against the Netherlands, Schopman said that despite putting pressure on his opponents, his side neglected to create more results.
“I think we played well for most of the game. In the first three quarters, we put a lot of pressure on them, but we neglected to make more results. We progressed a little bit in the final stage, and unfortunately, we had PC scores today. did not do.
“And, in the fourth quarter, we didn’t have a little bit of restraint and the ball went to him.”
Skipper Savita admitted that Netherlands did better than their first match which India won 2-1.
With less than 100 days to go for the FIH Women’s World Cup to be held in Spain and the Netherlands, Savita said the Pro League experience will help the team prepare for the marquee event.
“We have played our Pro League matches against quality teams, and it has been a great learning for us. It is really helping us prepare for the upcoming tournaments, especially the World Cup.”
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