FIH Women’s Junior World Cup 2022: Two From Odisha Secure Berth Among 20 Players
New Delhi/ Bhubaneswar, Mar 18: As the much-awaited FIH Women’s Junior World Cup 2021 is scheduled to begin on April 1, 2022, in Potchefstroom, South Africa, two players — Jiwan Kishori Toppo and Ajmina Kujur — from Odisha have been selected for the 20-member team to play for the country.
The FIH Women’s Junior World Cup 2021 was postponed to 2022 due to the omicron threat in South Africa.
The Indian team, grouped in Pool D along with Germany, Malaysia, and Wales, will be Captained by Salima Tete and Vice Captained by Ishika Chaudhary. They will kick-start their campaign on April 2 with their first match against Wales Junior Women followed by their match against the German Junior team on April 3 and they will play their last group-stage match on April 5 against Malaysia. The Quarter Finals will be held on April 8 whereas the Semi-Finals is scheduled for April 10 and the Final on April 12.
Chief Coach Janneke Schopman said, “After a long wait our Junior players are definitely ready to start their Junior World Cup experience. It was difficult to finalize the selection as all players showed a lot of progress in the past months which is great to see.”
“With a couple of players making their debut for the Senior Team in the Pro League recently, I believe that the added experience will have a positive influence. The team overall has a nice mixture of different skills and talents and am excited to see them taking on the best teams in the world at U21 level,” Schopman added.
The Indian Junior Women’s Team’s best show in recent times was at the FIH Junior Women’s World Cup in 2013 when they finished on the podium with a Bronze Medal beating nemesis England in a shootout.
