New Delhi, July 15 (IANS) India Junior Women’s Hockey Team captain Shileima Chanu Khaidem believes the side has returned from its seven-match tour of the United Kingdom better equipped for the upcoming Women’s Junior Asia Cup in China after testing itself against senior and age-group international opposition across Scotland and England.

The tour, which concluded with three wins, three defeats and one shootout loss, gave the young Indian squad valuable competitive exposure against Scotland Senior Women, USA U-21, England U-21 and Belgium U-21.

India’s campaign began with two hard-fought defeats against Scotland’s senior side, losing 3-2 in the opening fixture before going down 3-1 in the second encounter. Rather than allowing those setbacks to derail the tour, the visitors responded in emphatic fashion, producing a commanding 6-0 victory over the USA U-21.

Sukhveer Kaur led the charge with a brace, while Kajal, Shashi Khasa, Purnima Yadav and Puja Sahoo also found the net in India’s biggest win of the tour. The confidence carried over into the next fixture as India blanked England U-21 2-0 through goals from Binima Dhan and Roshni Aind.

Reflecting on the overall experience, Shileima said the varying styles of opposition accelerated the team’s learning process.

“This tour has been a fantastic learning experience for all of us. Playing against strong international teams with different styles of hockey challenged us to adapt quickly and improve with every match,” Shileima said.

India continued to show resilience in the fifth match, where Puja Sahoo’s penalty-corner strike earned a 1-1 draw against the USA U-21 before the Americans edged a closely contested shootout 3-2. Shashi Khasa and Geeta Yadav converted their attempts for India, but the result marked the team’s only shootout defeat of the tour.

The response was immediate. India completed a second victory over England U-21 with another disciplined 2-0 performance as Krishna Sharma and Purnima Yadav scored field goals. In the final fixture, the visitors pushed Belgium U-21 before narrowly losing 2-1, with Sukhveer Kaur scoring India’s late consolation after goals from Louise Van Herendael and Romanie Verhaeghe had given Belgium the advantage.

The skipper said the manner in which the squad recovered from difficult moments was one of the tour’s biggest positives.

“We have taken a lot of confidence from our performances, especially the way we bounced back after difficult results. These matches have helped us understand the areas where we are doing well and where we still need to improve,” she added.

Across the seven matches, several players made significant contributions. Sukhveer Kaur finished among the team’s standout performers with goals against Scotland, the USA and Belgium, while Purnima Yadav, Shashi Khasa, Kajal and Puja Sahoo also featured regularly on the scoresheet. Defensively, India showed steady improvement as the tour progressed, recording successive clean-sheet victories over England after conceding six goals across the opening two matches against Scotland.

Shileima believes the experience of competing against both senior and elite junior international teams has laid a strong platform for the squad’s next challenge.

“As a team, we are now looking forward to carrying these learnings into our preparations for the Women’s Junior Asia Cup in China. The experience we have gained here will be invaluable as we work towards achieving our goals later this year,” Shileima stated.

Having tested themselves in a variety of match situations against quality opposition, the Indian Junior Women’s Hockey Team will now turn its attention to the Women’s Junior Asia Cup, aiming to convert the lessons from their UK campaign into a strong continental showing later this year.

–IANS

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