India, ranked 69th in the world and fresh from their AFC Asian Cup outing (finished fourth in Group C), will kick-off their South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Women’s Championship campaign against minnows Maldives, ranked 167th, at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium here on Monday.
Speaking to the media on Sunday, India coach Crispin Chettri said that his girls have not had enough time to train. “While everyone wants us to win the SAFF championship, it’s more important to develop as a footballing nation and become a regular participant at the AFC Asian Cup. The Indian Women’s League (IWL) concluded recently and while our players are in good shape, we’ve had no time to train for this tournament,” said Chettri.
According to Chettri, Team India is a mixed bag of players, both junior and senior, and he believes that the lessons learnt from the AFC Asian Cup will hold them in good stead here. This sentiment was also shared by India skipper Grace Dangmei.
“The experience of playing tougher teams has been invaluable. The learnings gained from the AFC Asian Cup will help us deliver better results in this tournament. We will give our best,” said a confident Dangmei.
The two-week long tournament also features two-time reigning champs and World No. 112 Bangladesh, besides Nepal (World No. 87), Sri Lanka (World No. 162), and Bhutan (World No. 164). The championship will be streamed on FanCode, with Nepal facing Bhutan in the opening game on Monday.
FiveNo. of times India have won the SAFF Women’s Championship
