Indian women's hockey team to tour Italy

An Indian women's hockey team will tour Italy next month for a three-nation tournament in preparation for the upcoming Asia Cup and Olympic qualifying tournament next year.

The 18-member team led by Binita Toppo will play hosts Italy and Russia on Aug 1-5, Indian Women's Hockey Federation (IWHF) announced in the Capital on Saturday.

"This tournament is in preparation for the 6th Women's Asia Cup 2007 and Olympic Qualifying Tournament in March/April 2008," it said in a statement.

Asia Cup will be played from Sep 1-9 in Hong Kong while venues and dates for the Olympic qualifying tournament are yet to be decided, said an IWHF official.

Squad: Binita Toppo (captain), Suniti Kispotta, Poonam Toppo, Joydeep Kaur, Pushpa Pradhan, Rosalind Ralte, Meenakshi Saini, Amubi Devi, Manorama Devi, Eti Shrivastava, Saundrya Yendala, Poonam Malik, Anuradha Devi, Binita Xess, Lalremruati, Ritu Rani, Kirandeep Kaur and Vandana Kataria

Support staff: GS Bhangu (coach), YS Chauhan (assistant coach), Lal Rampari (coach-cum-manager) and PS Anupama (umpire).