England men's team arrived on Tuesday night in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, ahead of the double-header against the hosts India in the FIH Hockey Pro League 2021/22, which is scheduled to take place on April 2 and 3 at the Kalinga Hockey Stadium. Upon his arrival, England Head Coach Zak Jones expressed excitement at the prospect of playing against India at the Kalinga Stadium. "We are really excited and looking forward to playing at the Kalinga Hockey Stadium. Few of the guys have played here before and they know a bit of a challenge because India are a good side at the moment. I think we have got a lot of guys who haven't been here before, so yeah really excited to come out here and play at this stadium, and also get ready for the 2023 World Cup," said Jones as per an official Hockey India release.
With two wins and two losses in four matches, England are currently on the 7th position of the FIH Pro League 2021/22 points table. They started their Pro League campaign with wins against Spain, but lost both of their matches against Argentina last month.
Reflecting on the team's Pro League performance so far, the England Coach said, "I think we have performed really well so far. We are sort of building game-to-game, and it's really important that we take that momentum and look to get as many results as possible in the Pro League."
Speaking about the team's preparedness ahead of the clash against India, England Captain Tom Sorsby stated, "We are quite a new team, so not necessarily in preparations for India, but this group has got some good experience in the Pro League recently. And, I think all the experience we get here will be valuable, especially between now and coming back here for the World Cup."
"India have been playing really well, they have got some great results. We know they are going to be a tough team to play against, but it's a challenge that we are really looking forward to taking on. It's not often that you get to come out to play in India against the home team, so just looking forward to the challenge they are going to give us," Sorsby added.