Scoring five goals in the tour of Chile was special, says young Indian junior women’s hockey striker Beauty Dung Dung, whose aim is to make it to the national team for the Asia Cup later this year.
Dung Dung had a sensational outing in Santiago where the Indian junior women’s team remained unbeaten in six matches. The Jharkhand player led the attack with five goals in the recent tour.
She scored a hat-trick in the first match against the Chile junior team which India won 5-3. The junior Indian team then beat the Chile senior side thrice — with 4-2, 2-0 and 2-1 scorelines — and drew once (2-2). “Doing well in Chile has given me a lot of confidence and scoring five goals there was special for me,” she said.
“Next aim is to improve my skills in the national camp and hope to make the team for the Junior Asia Cup where we need to finish in the top 3 to qualify for the FIH Junior World Cup (women) to be held in December this year in South Africa,” she said. The Junior Asia Cup is scheduled in April at Kakamigahara, Japan.
Dung Dung was a part of Jharkhand team that beat Haryana in the final of Hockey India Junior Women National Championship 2019 (A Div).
She was picked for the Cantor Fitzgerald U-21 International four-nation tournament in Ireland followed by the series in Belarus. She also took part in India’s successful outing in the three-nation tournament in Australia.
“We have developed a very good understanding amongst each other. The core group is led by captain Suman who is very encouraging especially for youngsters like me in the team.
“In our previous camp, we also played a few matches against the senior India team which helped us prepare well for Chile. Since we are in the same campus as the senior core group, we watch how they press, the skills they use and set pieces they create,” she added.
The junior women’s core group is currently on a break and will regroup at SAI Centre, Bengaluru for the national camp on February 9.
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