Indian Women’s Hockey team starts “Mission Tokyo” Positively!

Indian Women’s Hockey team started their Olympic qualifying campaign in the best way possible. In the first game of the FIH Series Finals, Indian Eves beat Uruguay 4-1 to bag all three points. The second stage of the FIH Series Finals kicked off on Saturday in Hiroshima, Japan.

Winning Start:

Leading from the front, Rani Rampal opened the scoring with a field goal in the 10^th minute. Gurjit Kaur then converted from the penalty corner in the 21^st minute to give India a 2-goal lead in the first half.

Jyoti and Lalremsiami scored two more goals in the second half to make sure Uruguay’s sole goal in the 51^st minute was nothing more than a consolation goal. The 9^th ranked team won the game 4-1 to grab all three points.

FT: ?? 4-1 ??

Courtesy a brilliant show in all the departments, the Indian Eves register a comprehensive win over Uruguay in their opening match at the FIH Women's Series Finals Hiroshima 2019.#IndiaKaGame #FIHSeriesFinals #RoadToTokyo #INDvURU pic.twitter.com/Z9rNQDsqnj

— Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) June 15, 2019

Indian Eves will now take on Poland (ranked 22^nd) in their second group stage game on Sunday. Polish women also won their first game against Fiji, thrashing the islanders 6-0. The winner of this group will secure a place in the semi-final but finishing second or third will make things tricky.

Road To Tokyo:

The second and third placed team will face the third and the second placed team from the other group, respectively, for the place in the semi-final. The two finalists will qualify for the FIH Olympics qualifiers in October-November.

India are the favourites to win the tournament in Hiroshima and qualify for the next and final stage of the qualification for the Tokyo 2020. The Eves had to take a longer route after they missed out an opportunity for direct qualification after losing the final of the 2018 Asian Games to Japan.

Indian Men’s team have already booked a place in the FIH Olympic qualifiers after beating Japan 7-2 in the semi-final of the FIH Series Finals yesterday. The men’s team will take on South Africa in the final, late on Saturday.

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