Indian women hoping to make most of national camp in Jharkhand ahead of 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup

The Indian women's football team will train in Jharkhand ahead of next year's AFC Women's Asian Cup, which will be held in India.

The Indian women's football team has been training in Jharkhand since August 16.

The Indian women's football team is looking to make the most of the training camp in Jharkhand, Jamshedpur as it prepares for next year's AFC Women's Asian Cup, which will be held in India next January.

"Keeping in mind the current pandemic situation in the world, it's not easy to set up such camps for any sporting events. We are extremely thankful that the Jharkhand government and AIFF have come together to arrange this camp for the team. We only hope to move forward together in our preparation for the Asian Cup," said captain Ashalata Devi.

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The Indian women had earlier travelled twice on international exposure tours to Turkey and Uzbekistan, where they played the likes of Uzbekistan, Belarus, Ukraine and Russia earlier this year.

With former head coach Maymol Rocky stepping down from her role, Thomas Dennerby -- coach of the India women's U-17 team -- was named as the senior team's coach. The Swede coach has over 30 years of experience and had guided Sweden's women's national team to a third-place finish in the FIFA World Cup in 2011, and a quarterfinal spot in the 2012 London Olympics.

More recently, he worked as the head coach of the Nigerian women's national team and guided the Super Falcons to the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup. He also helped the Nigerian women to win the AWCON Award 2018, and was awarded the 2018 Coach of the Year in Nigeria.

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"Everyone is motivated, and our new coach Thomas Dennerby has also been very helpful on and off the pitch. He has experience of coaching at the highest level, and we're all looking forward to learning as much as we can from him," said winger Sanju Yadav.

"Being back in the camp feels absolutely great. Personally, I am even more elated as I am back after a long injury. But we are all aware of the massive task ahead of us, to get ready for the Asian Cup," she added.

Midfielder Sangita Basfore felt the Indian's women's team is "one big family." "We are like one big family. We can now shift focus to preparing for the Asian Cup, and I can guarantee that everyone is highly motivated. We are all very thankful to the Jharkhand Government for hosting us in Jamshedpur," she said.