Mervyn Fernandis lavishes praise on Indian women's hockey team

[[{“value”:”

Olympian Mervyn Fernandis has lavished praise on the Indian women’s hockey team for winning the FIH Nations Cup in Auckland and earning a comeback to the prestigious FIH Pro League next season.

Navneet Kaur opened the scoring with a penalty corner conversion in the 4th minute after which Sunelita Toppo (15th min) doubled India’s advantage off a penalty corner deflection as India beat hosts New Zealand 2-0.

“Conversion and defence of short corners continue to play a very important role in modern hockey and the Indian team did well to convert two early short corners against the hosts. The Nations Cup serves as the pathway tournament to the prominent Pro League, with the champion securing a berth, so this is a significant achievement for captain Salima Tete and her team,” 1980 Moscow Olympics gold medal-winner Fernandis told mid-day on Sunday.

India’s Lalremsiami was named Player of the Match while forward Deepika finished as the joint-top scorer of the tournament with six goals to her name, sharing honours with USA’s Ashley Sessa. 

India remained unbeaten throughout, defeating USA (3-2), Japan (2-1), and Uruguay (3-2) in the Pool A matches, before routing Chile 6-0 in the semis. Fernandis appreciated this consistency.

“Proud of the way this team has performed consistently across the tournament. This effort is highly appreciated because it now means that this team will have regular competition against the world’s best teams in the Pro League, which is invaluable for the development of Indian women’s hockey,” he said.

Hockey India announced a cash award of Rs 3 lakh for each player and Rs 1.5 lakh for each member of the support staff.

“}]]