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Chile player Manuela Urroz is among the most experienced players in the country and was named as one of the captains who'll lead the nation in the upcoming FIH Women's Hockey Olympic Qualifiers 2024 in Ranchi.
Urroz has played 231 matches for the national team since her debut in 2009. She is the second-most capped player in the squad named for the Hockey Olympic Qualifiers after Caram Camila (267).
Sportskeeda caught up with Manuela Urroz ahead of the competition to discuss the team's bronze medal at the Pan American Games 2023 and her experience with the national side.
The Chile Women's Hockey Team came into this tournament on the back of a bronze medal finish at the Pan American Games 2023. They topped their pool with three victories and lost to the United States in their semi-final encounter.
However, the hosts defeated Canada by a couple of goals to clinch the bronze medal at the Pan American Games 2023. Manuela Urroz played a crucial role in the hosts' victory, having scored four goals in five outings.
When asked about the experience and her performance, she said:
"We had pressure in the Pan American Games because we were playing in our home town Santiago. Almost 7000 people from the country came to watch every match and it was a nice atmosphere in our country."
She added:
"For me, it was my first Pan American Games. It was special to play here in my home city and was good to achieve a bronze medal with the team."
Chile played a couple of friendly matches ahead of the tournament in Ranchi. They played against New Zealand and Italy in preparation for the Olympic qualifiers. The Las Diablas lost their friendly match against New Zealand and drew 2-2 against Italy.
Speaking about the team's preparation for the Women's FIH Olympic Qualifiers, Uroz said:
"We've been preparing for a long time. We played the Pan American Games in October and after that, this [Olympic Qualifiers] is our main objective. We arrived almost a week ago here in Ranchi and we've been preparing with two friendly games against New Zealand and Italy."
When asked about her plans to tackle India if they happen to meet them in the semis, Uroz stated that the team will take it one match at a time and are currently focused on the group stage games.
On India getting home support, Urroz said:
"Playing against India will be a nice feeling due to the atmosphere and of course, with the home crowd in their favor, it not always going to be easy but it's not going to be the first time."
The 32-year-old is among the most experienced and senior players in the team. When asked about her role in the team, she asserted:
"I think after years of experience you start to know which is your role in the team. I like to enjoy with the team and give my experience to the youngsters.
The attacker was named as one of the captains to lead the Chile side in the FIH Women's Olympic Qualifiers 2024 in Ranchi. Speaking about the added responsibility on her shoulders, she said:
"It's a little bit of pressure but I'll take it positively."
Urroz was confident that the captaincy tag wouldn't have an impact on her performance in the tournament. She affirmed:
"No, I don't think it'll affect my performance. It's an honour for me to lead the country and possibility to always think about the team first and how we can be in good shape and our best version for this tournament."
In the final stage of the conversation, Urroz opened up about her personal goals for the tournament. She wanted to keep the team first and not any personal achievement.
"My personal goal is to qualify for the Olympics with Chile," Urronz concluded. "That's my only dream for this tournament. Of course, as an individual player, you always want to give your best performance but in this case, my most important goal is to qualify for the Olympics."
