Primary priority is an Olympic qualification: Rani Rampal

After a Silver at the recent Asian Games which resulted in the team narrowly missing out on an Olympic berth, the Indian women's Hockey team seem to have begun 2019 on the right note in their first overseas tour of the year. It saw them take on World Cup 2018 Silver and Bronze medalists Ireland and Spain respective and emerge with a series won and another one drawn. Notably, the Indian women's Hockey team made its first appearance at the Olympics since 1980 at the Rio Summer Games and the standard of Hockey displayed by them has been quite high since. 2017 saw them win the Asia Cup while 2018 gave us Silver at the Asian Champions Trophy and the Asian Games in addition to a fourth-place finish at the Commonwealth Games and an eighth-place finish at the London World Cup. Despite the cloud of administrative issues which has plagued the team since last year- with the change of a coach, their performance vs Spain and Ireland this year have brought out the positive aspects of the team before they get ready for the upcoming Olympic qualifications.

The Bridge caught up with team captain Rani Rampal as the team returned from their overseas tour to get a sense of what the takeaways for the series were for the team.

On the recent tour of Spain

This tour definitely helped us gain a lot of confidence given the fact that we showed we were equal to World Cup medal winning teams. It resulted in a certain amount of self-belief and motivation especially among the younger members of the squad and this will help a lot in 2019. We figured out our flaws and took note of the positives so we have a clear road map on what to work on.

On the second stint of coach Sjoerd Marijne as the coach of the women's team:

The last couple of years have seen a lot of shuffle in our coaches. Each of them brings something new to the table and are good in their own way. Now that Sjoerd Marijne is back, he is resolved to do what is best for the team. We are definitely targeting an Olympic qualification and all our plans and strategies will be made out keeping that in mind once we resume training The success of this tour needs to be left here and we need to move on to the rest of the year.

About the juniors in the team.

This tour had a mixed team which saw a few seasoned players rested while younger ones were given a chance. For a long term development of the team, it is necessary for juniors to get that exposure as well and this tour helped us all perform and sync as a team. I will always hope that with time and after playing with the senior team a little more, their performance improves because again, the ultimate aim this year is to secure an Olympic berth. It will be good to have that mix of experience and young blood in the team.

Her role as captain and senior player in that context

As a captain and a senior player, my target is always to set an example for the youngers. Along with my priorities of seeking an Olympic spot, I will look at the World Series in June as an excellent opportunity for us to capitalise and win and by then, we will gain a better idea of where we stand in the world. The tournament will help us understand our own strengths as players and as a team and we will be in a better position to plan our way forward then.