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India

Express News Service

New Delhi, September 2: The Indian team left tonight for Santiago (Chile) for participation in the BDO women’s junior hockey World Cup to be held there from September 14 to 25.

For a team that finished ninth in 2001 at Buenos Aires, this bunch of players appears supremely confident of its abilities.



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The fact that it is almost a new-look team might have something to do with it. Twelve of the 18 players have not played at the senior level and that itself helps them feel less intimidated, “Many in the squad do not know the magnitude of the event they are going to participate in and hence they feel very confident. We try to boost their morale, It helps a lot,” said M.K Kaushik, Olympian and team coach.

The captain of the team — Jasjeet Kaur, who has played in the senior team, says loads about the attitude of the team. ‘‘We play with a cool mind and try not to be intimidated by the opposition. We hope to finish among the first four in the tournament.’’

Saba Anjum, the vice-captain, is another player who has played with the senior team earlier. ‘‘I have played against all the teams in the pool and I will be able to help the youngsters with some guidance,” she said. She, however, has no idea about the level of competition, ‘‘We will concentrate on match-to-match and do our very best,” she said.

The team would be playing in temperatures as low as six degrees. But Kaushik is sure that his wards would acclimatize in a few days time. He is also clear that the only way to survive is to play attacking hockey. “We have the attacking mentality ingrained in our game. Whenever we have played defensive, we have lost. So it is important that we play our natural game,” he said.
The team would be playing four friendly matches prior to the start of the competition.

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