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The Indian junior women's hockey team, led by Salima Tete, have been camping in Potchefstroom in South Africa, getting acclimatized to the conditions before they commence their Junior World Cup journey. Ishika Chaudhary will be Salima Tete's deputy.
The Junior World Cup was originally supposed to be held in December 2021 and was postponed to April 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Salima Tete, who was one of the youngest members of the Indian women's team that finished fourth at the Tokyo Olympics, said the Indian team's dressing room is filled with excitement ahead of their first match in Pool D against Wales on April 2.
"There is a lot of excitement among the players. Everyone has worked so hard for this moment and used the postponement to gain better exposure and improve as a team so we can put up our best performance here," she said.
Read: FIH Women's Junior World Cup 2022: Team India's schedule, timings and streaming details
Salima highlighted the team's preparations in the lead up to the tournament, having landed in Potchefstroom almost a week ahead of their first match.
"Coming here early has helped us tremendously. We have been able to get a good amount of training sessions here which has helped in acclimatizing to the weather. It gets very warm and humid during the day. It definitely helped to have our last camp in Bhubaneswar where we trained in quite hot conditions," she explained.
Salima Tete confident of good show in World Cup
The Indian team will begin their campaign against Wales on April 2 followed by their second match against Germany. They will take on Malaysia in the third match and hope to play in the quarter-finals on April 8.
Also read: Austria replaces Russia at FIH Women's Junior World Cup
The semi-finals and the final of the World Cup will be held on April 10 and 12, respectively.
Salima, who led the U-18 team to a historic silver medal at the Youth Olympic Games in 2018, said the team is confident of putting their best foot forward.
"The team is confident of putting up our best performance. We are well-prepared and have a good mix of experienced players. Our aim will be to take it match-by-match, get off to a good start and play as per plan," Tete said.
Also read: FIH Women's Junior World Cup: Indian skipper Salima Tete speaks about team's preparations
