Published 16:13 IST, December 3rd 2019

Indian junior women's team to open campaign against NZ in Three-Nation hockey tourney

The Indian junior women's hockey team will look to begin its campaign on a positive note against New Zealand in its opening match of the Three-Nation tournament

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Indian junior women's hockey team will look to begin its campaign on a positive te against New Zealand in its opening match of Three-Nation tournament on Wednesday. Besides India and New Zealand, tournament will also feature hosts Australia. For Baljeet Saini-coached Indian team, tournament is an opportunity to gain much-needed exposure of playing two top teams of world. team is scheduled to take part in AHF Women's Junior Asia Cup next year to be held in Japan, and Saini is expecting side to make most out of tournament.

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"Our target in next year is to perform well at AHF Women's Junior Asia Cup which will take place in 2020. This group of players has been training with us for a fair amount of time w, and to have opportunity of playing in Australia against two top teams is a great way to prepare for upcoming year," said Saini.

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"We are also hoping that se four matches will give us a good idea of how team is shaping up in terms of dealing with different scenarios that you face during a match. 

"We have a very talented bunch of players, some of which have even represented senior team recently, and I am really looking forward to our first match against New Zealand," he added.

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Indian team has t played New Zealand recently, and coach will be keeping a close eye on Tuesday's Australia-New Zealand fixture to get a fair idea of ir opponents. "We have t come across New Zealand in any tournaments that we have participated in past 3-4 years. refore, I will be watching opening match between Australia and New Zealand and will analyse ir style of play. I am expecting a good run of four matches against se two sides. It will be a good test," Saini said. India will play Australia on December 5, New Zealand on December 7 and Australia again on December 8. 

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15:53 IST, December 3rd 2019