South Asian Games 2019: Indian Women's team departs for Nepal with an aim to defend SAG title

New Delhi, December 1: India Women's National Team Head Coach Maymol Rocky exuded confidence as her team set its course for Nepal, where they will embark on a campaign to defend their South Asian Games gold medal.

Women's football has been included in two previous editions of the South Asian Games (2010 and 2016), and India had come up with winning the gold medal on both occasions. The Indian team, who were training in Kolkata for over a week, flew down to Nepal on Sunday (December 1, 2019)

Speaking to the-aiff.com ahead of the team's take-off, Maymol said that the team will be looking to continue its dominance in the South Asian Games.

"We are going in as the defending champions, and I can assure you that we are hungry to win the South Asian Games gold again this year," she said. "We have trained hard all year round, and we've played a number of international matches against higher-ranked opponents. So we are prepared to defend our title."

The Indian Women's Team has had a year of positive results, winning the 2019 SAFF Women's Championship, finishing third behind Spain U-19 and Villarreal Women in the 2019 COTIF Cup, and getting results against higher-ranked opponents like Uzbekistan and Vietnam.

Maymol believes that these regular camps and matches against tough opponents have given the team a lot of confidence and that they do not shy away while facing difficult teams.

"AIFF has a pathway for the Women's Team. We've been together for more than one and a half years, we have camps every month, and we've played more than 20 international matches recently," the former International footballer expressed.

"These are things that give them the confidence to play higher-ranked teams. The girls, from their side, they give their 100 per cent, they work hard, and they are on the right path," she rounded off.

Squad:

Goalkeepers: Aditi Chauhan, E. Panthoi Chanu, M. Linthoinganbi Devi

Defenders: Roja Devi, Jabamani Tudu, Ashalata Devi, Michele Castanha, Sweety Devi, W. Linthoinganbi Devi

Midfielders: Bala Devi, Ratanbala Devi, Ritu Rani, Sangita Basfore, Sumithra Kamaraj

Forwards: Anju Tamang, Dangmei Grace, Daya Devi, Manisha, Ranjana Chanu, Sandhiya Ranganathan

Head Coach: Maymol Rocky

Fixtures:

December 3: India vs Maldives

December 5: India vs Sri Lanka

December 7: India vs Nepal

December 9: Final

Source: Media Release