Glasgow: After failing to qualify for the semi-finals, the Indian women’s hockey team will take on hosts Scotland in the 5-6 position playoff at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow on Friday.
The teams last met during the Champions Challenge 1 in Glasgow with India losing that match 3-4. The two sides had also met in the 2006 edition of the Games in Melbourne where India triumphed 5-0 but the 2010 Games in Delhi saw the contest end in a 1-1 draw.
Scotland is a well-balanced side with half of the squad playing at their second Commonwealth Games. But the Indian eves have experience on their side and have emerged a strong contender.
India, however, will have to look out for Scottish midfielder Nikki Kidd and forward Linda Clement, who have been in top form during the tournament at the Glasgow National Hockey Centre.
On the positive side, the 2002 edition champions will be expecting India forward Rani to score more goals after she proved to be a key asset for the team by sneaking in skilful field goals, totalling five so far.
Defender Jaspreet Kaur’s penalty corner conversion rate is also right at the top with six goals and could give a tough fight to the Scots.
“This game will be a test to see how far we have improved since Champions Challenge 1 where we lost to Scotland,” India chief coach Neil Hawgood said.
Both the teams finished third of out five teams in their respective pools, hence qualifying for the 5-6 position playoff.
Meanwhile, Indian wrestlers continued their impressive run with Olympic bronze medallist Yogeshwar Dutt, Geetika Jakhar and Babita Kumar all qualifying for the final and Pawan Kumar staying in the hunt for a bronze medal on Thursday.
India have won nine medals — three gold, five silver and a bronze — from wrestling and are assured of at least three silvers.
Yogeshwar, who had won the gold in the 2010 Commonwealth Games, will be facing Canada’s Jevon Balfour in the men’s freestyle 65kg category.
It is the first time that Yogeshwar is participating in a major tournament ever since he made a move to the 65kg category after his pet 60kg was removed by world body Fila last year. Yogeshwar had won the bronze in the 2012 London Games in the 60kg.
Yogeshwar raced away with a 11-0 win over Scotsman Alex Gladkov in the Round of 16. The 31-year-old Indian again disappointed the Scottish fans beating Gareth Jones 10-0 in the quarter-final and booked his place in the final with another facile 10-0 win over Sri Lankan Chamara Perera in the semi-final.
The female wrestlers also put on a inspiring show with both Babita and Geetika eyeing gold medals at the Commonwealth Games. Babita will be facing Canada’s Brittanee Laverdure in the 55kg freestyle final while Geetika will take on Danielle Lappage, also from Canada, in the 63kg category final.
Babita beat England’s Louisa Porogovska 2-0. The match had to be stopped in the first period as the Indian took down the English girl by fall and was adjudged the winner.
Geetika also booked her place in the final with a 13-2 win over Wales’ Sarah Connolly in the semi-final. The bout was stopped in the second period as Geetika opened up a 10 points lead and was declared the winner by technical superiority.
But 20-year-old Pawan was extremely unlucky as he lost his semi-final bout to Canada’s Tamerlan Tagziev 0-4. Pawan will have to fight it out for the bronze medal with Pakistan’s Mohammad Inam in the 86kg medal match.
Pawan started off well with a 10-0 win over New Zealand’s Steve Hill in the Round of 16 where the Indian was declared winner due to technical superiority and then went on to beat Scotland’s Luigi Bianco 5-0 in the quarter-final.
