Indian hockey teams leave for inaugural FIH Hockey5s competition

BENGALURU: Indian Men and Women Hockey teams have left for Lausanne, Switzerland to participate in the inaugural edition of the FIH Hockey5s competition, which will be held from June 4 and 5.

In the competition, the Men's team is scheduled to play against Malaysia, Pakistan, Poland and Switzerland. On the other hand, the Women's team will face South Africa, Uruguay, Poland and Switzerland in the round-robin stage.

The top two teams will square off against each other in the Final on June 5. Rajani Etimarpu-led Indian Women's team will take on Uruguay in the opening match on June 4 followed by a match against Poland on the same day.

They will then square off against the hosts Switzerland and South Africa, respectively on June 5.

Expressing the team's excitement ahead of their departure, Rajani stated, "Hockey5s will be a different ball game altogether. Our skills, speed and everything will be tested.

It will be challenging for sure, but I think it will really exciting format to play. We've got a couple of players in the team who are acquainted with this format, and we have had good preparations at the camp. We are looking forward to representing our country in the inaugural edition of the Hockey5s."

Meanwhile, the Indian Men's Team led by Gurinder Singh will play their opening match against the hosts Switzerland, followed by a match against Pakistan on the opening day. They will then face Malaysia and Poland respectively on June 5.

"We are really excited to play a different version of hockey at an international level that too in a beautiful country. It's a fast-paced and challenging format. Many of our players have played this format before at the Youth Olympics, so we are confident of doing well," Gurinder expressed.

The Indian Women's team will play their opening match against Uruguay at 1800 hrs IST, while the Men's team will take on the hosts Switzerland at 1830 hrs IST.

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