Bengaluru, Sept. 8 -- Fresh from a historic fifth-place finish at the World Cup, the Indian women's hockey team on Tuesday departed for the Asian Games in Japan, with their sights firmly set on winning the gold medal and securing a direct berth at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games.
Led by captain Salima Tete and coached by Sjoerd Marijne, India produced one of its finest performances in decades as the team finished fifth, its best World Cup result since the inaugural edition in 1974.
The attention now shifts to the Asian Games, where the stakes are even higher.
Under the FIH's LA 2028 qualification system, the highest-placed eligible team in the women's hockey competition at the Asian Games will earn an Olympic quota place,
provided it has not
already qualified through another pathway.
"We are going into the Asian Games with a lot of confidence, but we also know that every tournament brings a new challenge," said Tete, who has led India to the Nations Cup title and the historic World Cup fifth-place finish this year, in a release.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.