To make it to the Women’s Hockey World Cup, India will have to show its best game, with the return of coach Sjord Marin there is new enthusiasm among the players.

Hyderabad: Enthused after the joining of experienced coach Shard Marin, the Indian team will try to make a positive start to its campaign by registering a win against Uruguay in the qualifiers here on Sunday with the aim of making it to the FIH Women’s Hockey World Cup. In this tournament, eight teams, hosts India, England, Scotland, Korea, Italy, Uruguay, Wales and Austria will challenge for three places in the World Cup.

With three World Cup spots at stake in this tournament, it means that the teams finishing first, second and third will qualify for the World Cup to be held in Belgium and the Netherlands from August 14 to 30. During this period, Men’s World Cup will also be played in these two countries. This will be Marin’s first responsibility as head coach.

This Netherlands coach had stepped down after the Indian team’s historic fourth-place finish in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and now he is making a comeback. India are currently ranked ninth in the world rankings and are the second highest ranked team in the tournament after England at number seven. India captain Salima Tete said, “We are very excited to play the qualifiers on home ground in front of our fans. The team has prepared hard for this tournament because we know what is at stake. Every team here is playing for a place in the World Cup, so we are expecting tough matches from the beginning.

If we look at the world rankings, India is a strong contender for victory against Uruguay. After this, the Indian team will face Scotland on March 9 and Wales on March 11. Meanwhile, in the other matches of the day, England will face Italy, Korea will face Austria and Scotland will face Wales.

The teams in the qualifiers have been divided into two pools, with England, Korea, Italy and Austria in Pool A while hosts India, Scotland, Uruguay and Wales are in Pool B. The top two teams from each pool will advance to the semi-finals. The winners of both the semi-finals and the bronze medal match will get direct entry into the World Cup. 16 teams will participate in the upcoming World Cup in both men’s and women’s categories. Nine teams have already qualified in each of these categories. India has so far participated in the Women’s World Cup eight times. His best performance was in the first World Cup in 1974 when he finished fourth.