The Indian Women’s National Team will take on Indonesia in their opening Group B fixture on April 3rd in Mandalay, Myanmar. The other two teams in the group are Nepal and Myanmar.
India go into Round 2 of the AFC Olympic Qualifiers on the back of clinching their fifth consecutive SAFF Women’s Championship. India defeated Nepal in the final and are yet to lose a game in the tournament.
The women’s national team have been training in Mandalay for almost a week now. They arrived ahead of schedule to get acclimatised to the heat and humidity with temperatures reaching 40 degrees Celsius.
We arrived here eight days prior to our first match against Indonesia for acclimatization. The team has responded well and have settled down fast to the torrid weather conditions here. The players have got a feel of the pitch, and the training sessions had been designed specifically to help them adjust while focusing on tactics.
We had won the SAFF Championship in Biratnagar (Nepal), where temperatures were similar. But here in Mandalay, its lot more humid. But not just physically, everyone is charged up mentally.
Maymol Rocky, Head Coach
The weather won’t be an issue. We have prepared hard for the Olympic Qualifiers Round 2, and we won’t let the weather dictate our performance.
India will be confident going into tomorrow’s game against Indonesia having beaten them twice in friendlies held in Jakarta at the beginning of the year.
TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
Wednesday, April 3 2019: India vs Indonesia
Saturday, April 6 2019: India vs Nepal
Tuesday, April 9 2019: India vs Myanmar
The 20-member squad for the qualifiers:
GOALKEEPERS: Linthoingambi Devi, Aditi Chauhan, Sowmiya Narayanasamy.
DEFENDERS: Jabamani Tudu, Sweety Devi, Ashalata Devi, Dalima Chhibber, Michel Castanha, Lako Bhutia.
MIDFIELDERS: Ranjana Chanu, Dangmei Grace, Sanju Yadav, Ratanbala Devi, Sumithra Kamaraj, Sangita Basfore, Indumathi Kathiresan.
FORWARDS: Anju Tamang, Roja Devi, Manisha, Sandhiya Ranganathan.
HEAD COACH: Maymol Rocky.
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