Indian Women's Hockey Team to start Nations Cup tune-up with Australia tour
New Delhi, May 13
Hockey India has announced that the Indian Women's Hockey Team will tour Australia from May 21 to June 3 this year as a part of its preparations for the upcoming FIH Hockey Women's Nations Cup 2025-26, scheduled to take place from 15th to 21st June in Auckland, New Zealand.
As part of the tour, India will play four matches against Australia at the Perth Hockey Stadium from May 26-30, 2026. The first two matches will be played on May 26-27 at 5:00 PM IST, while the remaining two matches will be played on May 29 and 30 at 11:00 AM IST.
Following the Tour of Australia, the team will travel to New Zealand, where they will continue their preparations with practice matches ahead of the Nations Cup, as per a press release from Hockey India.
The Indian Women's Hockey Team heads into the tour after an encouraging outing in Argentina earlier this year, where the team showed immense grit to finish their four-match tour with two wins. Since returning from the tour, the squad has been training intensively at the national camp in SAI Bengaluru, focusing on improving key areas ahead of a packed international calendar.
With support from Anandana, the Coca-Cola India Foundation, the drag-flickers in the team will also undergo a specialised drag-flick training clinic under Dutch legend Taeke Taekema from 26th May to 21st June 2026 in Perth, Australia, as well as Auckland, New Zealand.
Speaking about the importance of the tour, Chief Coach Sjoerd Marijne said, "Very happy that this tour has been made possible by Hockey India because these matches will help us identify our shortcomings and also our improvements after our camps. We have seen what the benchmark is when we played Argentina; we can now test how close we are to reaching the level of our last two wins and maintain the momentum."
He further explained how the tour will help the team adapt to conditions before heading to New Zealand. "Instead of making a long flight, we cut the travel into pieces so the acclimatisation will go faster. The weather is colder in New Zealand, and Australian (Perth) conditions will be closer to that," he added.
— ANI
Reader Comments
Very happy to see the focus on drag-flicking with a Dutch legend coaching our girls! Taeke Taekema is a genius in that department. Hopefully this specialised training pays off in the Nations Cup. 🇳🇱➡️🇮🇳
As someone who follows hockey closely, I think this is smart scheduling by the Indian team management. Breaking up the long journey to New Zealand and getting match practice in similar conditions in Perth is excellent planning. Best of luck to the team!
Sjoerd Marijne has done wonders for Indian women's hockey. The Argentina tour showed we can compete with top teams. Now time to build on that momentum. Hopefully we qualify for Olympics again! 💪
Excited to see the Indian women's team play in Perth! I'll be there cheering for them. Their performance in Argentina was impressive and this tour will be a great test. Go India! 🇮🇳
I wish more people in India followed women's hockey. These girls work so hard and deserve our support. The SAI Bengaluru camp has been great for them. Let's all tune in to watch the matches! 📺🏑
While this is good news
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