The United States Women’s Hockey team are all set to start their FIH Hockey Pro League 2023/24 campaign.
After procuring a spot at the Paris 2024 Olympics at the recently concluded FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifiers Ranchi, the US team is now focusing on obtaining a spot at FIH Hockey World Cup 2026 through the FIH Hockey Pro League 2023-24.
The FIH Hockey Pro League 2023/24 (Women) will take place at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar from February 3 to February 9, before moving to Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium in Rourkela, where it will continue from February 12 to February 18 according to the schedule.
Five national teams – India, China, USA, Netherlands and Australia are set to take part in the India leg of the FIH Pro League 2023/24; the teams will compete against each other once in Bhubaneswar and once in Rourkela.
The opening game will be between Netherlands and the United States followed by the second match with Australia on February 6, and a clash with China on February 7. India will be the opponent in the last match of the Bhubaneswar leg on February 9.
The previous encounter of the US team with the Indian Women’s Hockey Team in the FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifiers resulted in a 1-0 victory for the United States. They defeated Italy and New Zealand and also triumphed against Japan in the semi-final with a 2-1 victory. They lost to Germany in the finals by 0-2.
“We are looking forward to getting back into it. Obviously, coming off the Olympic Qualifiers, we got the result that we wanted. Now we’ve set some new goals to prepare for the year ahead. The one thing we want to continue from the last tournament is taking it one game at a time; that helped us succeed and I think that’s something we are looking forward to repeating in the FIH Pro League,” Captain Amanda Gollini said.
“ The Pro League is very important in the lead-up to the Paris 2024 Olympics; it presents us with a wonderful opportunity to prepare for the Olympics. But it is imperative that we trust the process, take it one game at a time, and not get ahead of ourselves,” she added.
All matches of the FIH Hockey Pro League 2023/24 will stream on Jio cinema, and all India matches will telecast on Sports18 – Khel.