Indian Women Hockey team to take on Scotland for 5th Place Playoff in the XX Commonwealth Games 2014

Scotland, 31 July 2014: Post a loss against South Africa in a hard fought clash in their last group match, the Indian Women Hockey team will now be taking on Scotland to fight for the 5th/6th position in the XX Commonwealth Games 2014 at Glasgow, Scotland on 1 August 2014.

Posting two convincing wins out of four, where India thrashed Trinidad & Tobago by 14-0 and overcame Canada 4-2, the Indian eves gave a tough fight to South Africa but lost the match by a mere 3-2. India is now set to clash with Scotland.

The two teams last met during Champions Challenge 1, 2014 in Glasgow where India lost to Scotland 3-4. Both the teams also met in 2006 Commonwealth Games where India triumphed over Scotland and won the match convincingly 5-0. In 2010 the two teams yet again met and this time showcased great resilience, with the match ending in a 1-1 draw.

Scotland is a well balanced side with half of the squad playing for the second time in the Commonwealth Games hence having experience on their side, the Indian eves emerge stronger looking at their goal differences in the respective pool matches.

Where Scotland’s midfielder Nikki Kidd and forward Linda Clement will be the two players that India needs to look out for, it will be India’s forward player Rani, who has proven to be a key asset for the team by sneaking in skilful field goals and with 5 goals to her kitty in the ongoing Commonwealth Games and defender Jaspreet Kaur’s speciality of penalty corner conversion with a total of 6 goals and who gave a tough fight to the South Africa team yesterday, will prove to be a major threat for Scotland.

Speaking on the match tomorrow, Chief Coach Neil Hawgood said, “This game will be a test to see how far we have improved since CC1 where we lost 3-4 v Scotland. The match against South Africa saw a positive end to the game, but when you create that many chances you have to take them, tomorrow we will have to take our chances.”

India will take on Scotland on 1 August 2014 at 2030 hrs IST and the match will be telecasted on Ten Action, Ten Sports and Ten HD.