Ranchi: Italy women’s team captain Sara Puglisi said Thursday that her side is high on confidence while gearing up for a “tough” challenge against higher-ranked teams in the FIH Hockey Olympic qualifiers scheduled to begin here January 13.
The Italian side will begin its campaign January 13 against New Zealand, which will be the first meeting between the two teams in seven years.
World No. 19 Italy are grouped in Pool B and will take on the USA January 14, and then play their final Pool game against India January 16.
“We know it will be a tough competition. But everything is open and nothing is impossible. We will do what we need to get the results in our favour,” said Puglisi after Italy arrived here.
The other teams in the fray include Olympic silver medallists Germany, former Asian Games Champions Japan, Chile and the Czech Republic in Pool A.
The top three teams from the tournament will qualify for the Paris Olympic Games.
Opening up on the team’s preparations, Puglisi said: “We have had a few months of preparations together. We have worked a lot. We have come here and we will finish our final steps of training this week and then we will start the tournament together. It is quite exciting.”
Italy are the second team to have arrived to Ranchi after hosts India.
“We wanted to finish our preparations here so that we get used to the weather and the turf – hence we decided to come early,” said Puglisi in a HI release.
While Italy have achieved several distinctions in women’s hockey over the years, including a gold medal at the 2013 EuroHockey Nations Championship II, they are yet to earn an Olympic berth.
“It has been a long time since we have been waiting to go to the Olympics. So, if we are able to qualify, we will be over the moon. It’s a dream for everyone,” the skipper said.
Italy chief coach Andres Mondo also backed his team despite the lack of experience.
“We are a very new and young team, and you could see we are using different formations. At the moment, we are ranked at no 19. But this team, the quality of players that we have, we do not feel we are number 19,” he signed off.
PTI