By Sahil Kohli

Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], May 19 (ANI): Indian women's hockey skipper Salima Tete said that the upcoming tour to Australia will enable the Women in Blue to identify their areas of improvement and performing well will help them represent the country in the upcoming Nations Cup with 'full confidence'.

Hockey India has announced the Indian Women's Hockey Team for the upcoming Tour of Australia, scheduled from May 26 to 30 in Perth. The four-match tour will be held at the Perth Hockey Stadium, with matches scheduled on May 26, 27, 29 and 30. The tour will prepare the team for the FIH Hockey Women's Nations Cup 2025-26, scheduled to take place in Auckland from June 15-21.

Speaking to ANI about the squad, which includes experienced names and some promising juniors such as Sonam, Shilpi Dabas, selected after fine Hockey India League (HIL) campaigns, Salima said, 'Our team is good. There are definitely a lot of young stars. So we are excited to play with them. When they went to Argentina last time (where India won two matches out of four), it was a very good performance. Everyone is doing a lot of hard work. So we will do well this time as well. The young stars are doing their best. We will push them more. We can do better.'

The Indian skipper said that the whole team is excited to tour Australia and later feature in the Nations Cup, a title which India won back in 2022.

'We have got a very good tour before the Nations Cup. So thank you, Hockey India. Thank you, SAI (Sports Authority of India). We have got this tour because of them. Playing practice matches with such a great team is going to be great for us and will give us good practice. We can use this to improve our game plan, our PC attack. We will know where we will have to improve and get to implement it. These small things will be helpful for us,' she said.

'Our communication with the junior players is very good. And we are doing well. And they have a very good skill. Like Ishika (Choudhary) has. So I think this is very important for us. This is a tour for us. So definitely if we do well in this tour, then we will play the Nations Cup with good confidence,' she added.

On areas of concern pointed out, she said that her team can do better in penalty corner defence.

'Our last two years have not been so good in penalty corner defence, so it is time we focus on it. We have to do better,' she added.

On the return of coach Sjoerd Marijne after a stint from 2018-2021, which saw him almost bring him an Olympic bronze medal home, but lost to Great Britain in the bronze medal match, she said that the Dutch coach gives players freedom to play their brand of hockey and trust it.

'He gives freedom to junior players to play with whatever skillset they have, without doing anything extra. If you have a great level of skill, you do not need to do anything extra. He always keeps us motivated and tells us that the kind of hockey we play, no one has it. He does not let us take any pressure,' she added.

Salima can see some noticeable differences in the national set-up after the return of the Hockey India League (HIL) since the past two seasons, pointing out how Indian players, particularly juniors, get to learn the sport and life outside it from some of the best overseas talent out there.

'Juniors have also started to get chances to join the national camp straight after HIL. For example, Shilpi is one of those players,' she added.

On the workload management and recovery for seniors leading upto the Asian Games and the Hockey World Cup this year, she said that both seniors and juniors get adequate game time and rest in a way that everyone in the squad gets to play.

'We seniors get some rest as well. Juniors are given chances then. And then during important matches, seniors get game time. Juniors also get their rest so that they can recover, prepare and come back to play better in the next match. It is not like just a few players who are playing, keep playing. We let everyone play,' she signed off.

The Indian Team heads into the tour on the back of a strong showing in Argentina earlier this year, where they displayed plenty of fight to secure two wins in their four-match series. Since then, the group has been training hard at the national camp at SAI Bengaluru, sharpening key aspects of their game as they prepare for a busy international season ahead.

Salima Tete, a bronze medallist at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and Asian Games, will lead the side for the upcoming tour. She will have plenty of experience alongside her with the likes of Savita, Sushila Chanu Pukhrambam, Lalremsiami and Navneet Kaur, as well as exciting young talent including Sonam, Hina Bano and Lalthantluangi.

*India - 22-member squad for Tour of Australia 2026*:

Goalkeepers: Savita, Bichu Devi Kharibam

Defenders: Nikki Pradhan, Ishika Chaudhary, Sushila Chanu Pukhrambam, Lalthantluangi, Jyoti, Shilpi Dabas

Midfielders: Salima Tete, Lalremsiami, Neha, Sakshi Rana, Sunelita Toppo, Deepika Soreng, Sonam

Forwards: Navneet Kaur, Baljeet Kaur, Deepika, Annu, Ishika, Hina Bano, Rutuja Dadaso Pisal. (ANI).