Harpal Singh Bedi
Bhubaneswar, 14th February: India led by Harmanpreet Singh having beaten world’s two top teams back to back is confident of continuing of their winning momentum when they take on Australia in their third match of Pro League at Kalinga Hockey Stadium, Bhubaneswar on Thursday.
The hosts started their season with a 4-1 win over Spain and registered a thrilling 2 – 2 (4 – 2 SO) shootout win against the defending Champions the Netherlands in their first two matches of the League ..
Talking about the performance of the team so far, In Chief Coach Craig Fulton said, “It’s been a good performance so far from the team, but there’s a lot to improve, and we are trying to make the most out of these matches.
” Playing back-to-back matches against top teams is always tough, but we got a good break to recover and now the focus is on the last two games of the Bhubaneswar leg.”
Australia, on the other hand, have also registered two wins in two matches so far. They began their campaign with a 4-3 win against Spain and defeated Ireland 5-0 in their second match.
The last time India and Australia faced each other was during the previous edition of the FIH Hockey Pro League in Rourkela. It was India that got better of the Aussies, having registered a 5-4 win and a 2-2 (4 – 3 SO) shootout win in the two-legged tie.
Fulton added, “It is surely going to be a tough match. They are coming off solid back-to-back wins. For us, there were a few learnings from the first two games, and our focus will be to improve and better our performance. We are up for the challenge and look to keep the momentum going.”
India will then take on Ireland in their last match of the Bhubaneswar leg on Friday before moving to Rourkela for the return