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The Indian Women’s football team is all set to tour abroad as part of their preparations for the AFC Women's Asian Cup, which is set to take place in India in 2022.
Indian women's team head coach Thomas Dennerby has named a 23-member squad for the upcoming friendly matches in the UAE and Bahrain, starting on Saturday.
The senior women's team has been training in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, since mid-August. The tournament will be held from January 20-February 6, 2022. The team will now travel to foreign countries to gain exposure ahead of the AFC Women's Asia Cup.
The Indian team will travel to New Delhi on Wednesday and will then travel to the UAE for two friendly matches. The clashes will be against the United Arab Emirates national team and the Tunisian national team on October 2 and 4 respectively. Later, they will fly to Bahrain to compete against the Bahrain national team and the Chinese Taipei national team on October 10 and 13 respectively.
Head coach Thomas Dennerby has already spoken about the importance of playing quality matches to get an assessment of the preparedness ahead of the big tournament.
Earlier, head coach Thomas Dennerby had stressed the importance of playing competitive matches in their preparation for the continental tournament.
“We have been training in Jamshedpur for a month, in our quest to prepare for the AFC Women’s Asian Cup India 2020. Unfortunately, the current pandemic situation is tough and the reality is that there are different quarantine restrictions in different countries which kills many options for the Indian teams as entry for Indians in some countries is either still not yet open, or involves a major quarantine period,” said Dennerby.
Coach Dennerby, while talking to the AIFF, said:
"We are all looking forward to these matches, and are thankful to the authorities for arranging them during such difficult circumstances in a pandemic," said Dennerby.
Indian Women’s football team's friendly matches squad:
Squad: Goalkeepers: Aditi Chauhan, Maibam Linthoingambi Devi, Shreya Hooda.
Defenders: Dalima Chhibber, Sweety Devi, Ritu Rani, Ashalata Devi, Ranjana Chanu, Michel Castanha, Manisa Panna, Astam Oraon.
Midfielders: Sangita Basfore, Indumathi Kathiresan, Sanju, Martina Thokchom.
Forwards: Dangmei Grace, Anju Tamang, Sandhiya Ranganathan, Soumya Guguloth, Manisha Kalyan, Sumati Kumari, Pyari Xaxa, Renu.
Indian Women’s football team's friendly matches schedule:
October 2: India vs UAE
October 4: India vs Tunisia
October 10: India vs Bahrain
October 13: India vs Chinese Taipei
Also read: Coach Dennerby hails Jharkhand govt, reveals Bala Devi is likely to miss AFC Women's Asian Cup 2022
