By B Shrikant

Birmingham, Jul 28 (IANS): Manchester is around 140 kilometres from Birmingham and the venue of one of the biggest triumphs for the Indian women's hockey team -- final of the 2002 Commonwealth Games in which India defeated the host to win their one and the only gold medal in the competition so far.

India defeated hosts England 3-2 in extra time to win the gold medal -- coming back to score the winner in the final moments of extra time. The two teams are on the path to collision in Birmingham too as they are in the same Pool A with Canada, Wales and Ghana as the other teams and will face off in their preliminary round match on August 2. Winning that match and topping the group could be crucial so as to avoid strong Australia in the semifinals.

But recently India have found England a tougher nut to crack as compared to Australia, whom they defeated in the quarterfinals of the Tokyo Olympic Games last year. India had reached the semis for Argentina followed by a narrow defeat to Great Britain, comprising mostly of England players, in the third-place match.

So, it's redemption time for the Indian women's hockey team as it will aim to recapture the gold medal it won in 2002. India followed it up by finishing second in the 2006 edition.

Team India will also try to redeem itself following a disastrous campaign in the FIH Women's World Cup in Amsterdam and Spain as they finished ninth overall

India women are still smarting from their 9th place finish in the World Cup experience. Janneke Schopman and her team arrived in Amsterdam on the back of a number of good FIH Pro League results, including wins over the Netherlands and Argentina (currently the teams ranked at world number one and two). However, at the World Cup, it came crashing down as India finished ninth after losing their pool match to New Zealand and then losing the crossover match to Spain.

With players such as penalty corner specialists Gurjit Kaur, goalkeeper, and captain Savita and young star Lalremsiami, expect India to bounce back in Birmingham.

Though seasoned forward Rani Rampal is not in the squad this time around, India did well in the qua

The Indian women's team opens their campaign with a match against lowly Ghana in their preliminary round match. The major competition in the Group stage for India will be against England and India will be hoping to get the better of them to top their group.