Women's Hockey World Cup 2022: India captain Savita makes a BIG statement ahead of England clash

India women's hockey team will begin their Women's Hockey World Cup 2022 campaign with their first Pool B encounter against England on Sunday, July 3. India and England have shared an exciting rivalry with encounters between the two teams going down to the wire on most occasions. Though at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, it was Great Britain that India lost a Bronze medal to by a narrow 4-3 margin. 

At the previous edition of the World Cup held in London in 2018, India matched the performance of England with a 1-1 draw in the round robin league match. Earlier that year, the Indian Women's Team had beaten England 2-1 in the group stage at the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia but had lost to them in the Bronze medal match. These two teams have gone neck-to-neck in the 2006 World Cup where they drew 1-1 as well as the 2002 Champions Challenge 3-3 and had lost 1-0 in the 1998 Women's World Cup group match.  

24 hours before we KICK OFF our campaign FIH Hockey Women's World Cup Spain and Netherlands 2022, here is our Chief Coach Janneke Schopman sharing her message on behalf of the entire team!

Drop _ to support #WomenInBlue pic.twitter.com/yQeKZpLlKQ — Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) July 2, 2022

India captain Savita is quite upbeat about India's chances in the game. On the eve of the match, she said, "Even though as a team, we would be focused on our own performance, England and India have faced off in some very close encounters and undoubtedly a rivalry has developed over the past three-four years in particular."

"Some of our players want to challenge their goalkeeper Maddie Hinge, who has been quite exceptional at the goalpost. And they also have some very experienced players like Laura Unsworth, Giselle Ansley, their Captain Hollie Pearne-Webb and Lily Owsley who will bring their 'A' game against us," Savita added.

Even though India and England were scheduled to play a double-header game in FIH Hockey Pro League earlier this year which would have given insights into their game, the match was cancelled. But India remains optimistic about their chances here at the prestigious World Cup. "Yes, a match against them would have been ideal in the lead up to the World Cup but we can't be too bothered about what has happened in the past. The only aim for us right now is to get on to a good start in the tournament and the team is 100 per cent ready," added the goalkeeper.

The Indian Team will take on England on July 3 in their campaign opener in pool B. In their second match they will play China on 5th July followed by a match against New Zealand on 7th July in Amstelveen, the Netherlands. Savita urged the Indian fans to back them in their campaign for a maiden World Cup medal. "There is a big Indian community in Netherlands and we are expecting many of them will turn up for the matches. We saw many of them come support us in Rotterdam during the Pro League matches and definitely fans support will motivate us even more," She concluded.

On July 3, India will take on England in their first pool B match at 2000 hrs IST.  Please note, the matches will be live on Star Sports 1 and streamed on Disney+ Hotstar