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Olympic Hockey Qualifiers: Short On Match Practice, New Zealand Ready For Leap Into The Unknown
Marang Gomke Jaipal Singh Astro: Taking part in the women's FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifiers here at Ranchi is like leaping into the unknown for Team New Zealand as they have not travelled a lot since the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic and have very little match practice going into the big event.
The Black Sticks women had a short camp in the United States and played two Test matches against the USA and also a few matches against Malaysia before turning up at Ranchi. With the strict travel restrictions imposed by their government in 2020 and 2021, the team could not play many outings as they were forced to skip the Pro League. And when they played in the Tokyo Olympics, they ran into World No.1 and eventual gold medallist the Netherlands in the quarterfinals and bowed out early.
The lack of matches resulted in their rankings plummeting and they are now ranked ninth in the World. They were on a high between 2012 and 2016, finishing fourth in successive Olympic Games.
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