~Preeti will lead the Indian Junior Ladies’s Hockey Group at FIH Hockey Ladies’s Junior World Cup 2023~
Bengaluru, twenty third November 2023: Indian Junior Ladies’s Hockey Group defender Preeti is about to guide her facet within the upcoming FIH Hockey Ladies’s Junior World Cup 2023 to be held in Santiago, Chile from twenty ninth November 2023 to tenth December 2023. 16 groups will likely be competing within the event divided into 4 swimming pools. India are positioned in Pool C together with Germany, Belgium, and Canada. The defending Champions the Netherlands are positioned alongside South Africa, Australia, and Chile in Pool A, whereas Argentina, Korea, Spain, and Zimbabwe kind Pool B. England, the US, New Zealand and Japan are grouped collectively in Pool D.
India will start their marketing campaign in Chile on twenty ninth November towards Canada and can hope to get off to a stable begin. Within the landmark fiftieth episode of Hockey Te Charcha, a podcast sequence launched by Hockey India, Preeti, who additionally led India to a Gold medal on the Ladies’s Junior Asia Cup earlier this yr, spoke on the crew’s preparations forward of the event.
“We’re all fairly excited to compete within the event. We’ve got gained loads of confidence since our title win on the Ladies’s Junior Asia Cup and we want to carry ahead the identical momentum. We’ve got been getting ready effectively and have had actually good coaching classes below Coach Tushar Khandekar. In a brief span of time, we have now held necessary discussions in regards to the crew’s construction and the way we are able to enhance our abilities. We’re additionally engaged on growing in key areas.”
India defeated Korea 2-1 within the ultimate of the Ladies’s Junior Asia Cup in June to say the Gold medal. The win helped India safe a place on the FIH Hockey Ladies’s Junior World Cup 2023. Preeti says the crew is now vying to convey laurels from the distinguished event the place a medal has been elusive since 2013 when India had secured a Bronze medal.
“After profitable campaigns on the Tokyo Olympics 2020, hockey has been regaining prominence as soon as once more within the nation. Hockey India has additionally been specializing in the event of gamers on the grassroots degree and loads of consideration is now being additionally given to the junior groups. This has actually boosted the morale of all of the gamers. There are expectations from everybody that we are going to win a medal this yr in Chile. So, we are going to work exhausting to fulfil these expectations,” Preeti stated.
The Indian Ladies’s Hockey Group had completed within the fourth place on the FIH Hockey Ladies’s Junior World Cup 2021, after taking place 2-2 (0-3 SO) in a thriller towards England within the Bronze medal match. Preeti was part of the crew that had travelled to Potchefstroom, South Africa, and talked about her learnings from the event.
“I used to be actually younger the final time and solely featured in a single match. I really feel we used to lose our focus within the ultimate couple of minutes of matches previously which might have an effect on our outcomes. However this has been an enormous studying for us this yr {that a} recreation will not be over until the ultimate whistle. We all know we have now to maintain comparable ranges of depth until the top of the match,” she stated.
Preeti, who hails from Sonipat, Haryana, gained curiosity within the sport at a younger age when she was finding out within the sixth class. Belonging to a small city, Preeti noticed taking part in hockey as a way for her to go exterior her residence and spend time along with her buddies. At her family, it was exhausting for her to step exterior resulting from restrictions imposed by elder family members.
Preeti began coaching at Pritam Siwach’s Academy in Sonipat the place she realised that she wanted to work exhausting to proceed her gradual development within the sport. Preeti would go away the home quietly, telling her household that she goes to check in order that she will be able to proceed her coaching. “If I might get to spend time on the coaching grounds, I might really feel content material, even when I get scolded at residence,” she recalled.
In her youthful days, Preeti acquired loads of help from her father, who was a wrestler throughout his younger days however needed to stop the game resulting from an damage. On the age of 13, she suffered an damage on her leg throughout a district-level match and needed to get surgical procedure. She was suggested to be on full mattress relaxation for over a yr and her medical doctors raised doubts whether or not she would be capable of play hockey once more.
“It was a troublesome time for me and I used to be fairly depressed at the moment. My father didn’t inform me that medical doctors have hinted that I’ll not play once more. He advised me that if I needed to play hockey, I may proceed to take action. I additionally acquired loads of help from my coach who consistently motivated me and I used to be in a position to return to the game. After returning to the game after I was in eighth or ninth class, I began taking sport much more critically,” she stated.
Now, Preeti has turn into a daily member of the Indian Junior Ladies’s Hockey Group and has earned 14 worldwide caps for the crew. She additionally featured for the Indian Ladies’s Hockey Group that competed on the Hero FIH Hockey 5s Lausanne 2022.
“I really feel happy with my achievements and I really feel like I’ve answered all those that doubted me. I really feel girls may also obtain massive issues in sports activities, and I hope I can set an instance for others in order that extra girls do not need to face comparable troubles that I needed to face,” Preeti stated.
Now, because the Indian Junior Ladies’s Hockey Group gears up for his or her hardest problem of the yr in Chile, Preeti expressed hopes that the Indian followers will proceed to cheer for them, as she feels it will hold her facet motivated all through the event.
“A message for Indian followers could be that they proceed to help us as they did through the Ladies’s Junior Asia Cup. Listening to their voices makes us really feel that we’re part of a bigger household and will increase our confidence,” she signed off.
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