Australian trip in May 2023 for the Indian women’s hockey squad before the Asian Games

The Indian women’s hockey team will visit Australia in 2023 and play a five-game series at Adelaide’s MATE Stadium.

India will play Australia in the opening three games of the series before facing Australia A in the next two games.

On May 18, India will play its first game of the trip, followed by back-to-back contests on May 20 and 21. On May 25 and 27, the visitors will then go off against Australia A. The Indian women’s hockey team is now rated eighth, whereas the Australian women’s hockey team is ranked third worldwide.

The tour will serve as a warm-up event for the Hangzhou Asian Games, which will take place from September 23 to October 8 this year.

Talking about the same, Janneke Schopman, the Indian women’s team head coach, said, “Playing Australia in Australia will help us assess where we are compared to the top of women’s hockey. More importantly, the series will be crucial for our preparations for the Asian Games in China as it will give us ideal exposure while helping us reckon the areas where we need to make improvements and changes. So, it’s a very important tour for us strategically.”

In December 2022 India defeated Spain in the final and wining the FIH women’s National Cup. Additionally, in January 2023, India went on a tour of South Africa. There, they played the hosts in four matches and won each one handily (5-1, 7-0, and 4-0), with the fourth game ending in a 2-2 draw. The Indian team, on the other hand, lost 1-3 to the Netherlands in their final three games of the same tour.

In the quarterfinals of the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, Australia, a three-time Olympic gold medalist, defeated the Indian women’s hockey team 1-0. India had achieved a historic win.

In the semifinal match of the Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham, India battled valiantly against Australia, drawing the score at 1-1 at the conclusion of regulation. But Australia prevailed 3-0 in the penalty shootout to advance to the championship game.

The players are now preparing for the Australia tour at the senior women’s national coaching camp, which is taking place at SAI in Bengaluru.