Hockey: Indian captain Rani eyes Olympics entry through Asiad gold

Rani Rampal

Though the Indian women's team is the highest ranked squad in the 18th Asian Games hockey competition, the players are well aware that rankings mean nothing once the action starts.

"Ranking is good for the morale of the team; it provides a physiological boost to the players that they belong to a higher grade side," said team manager CR Kumar, adding, "that you have to justify your ranking on the field."

"Higher ranking does give you some advantage over your rival side to start with, but that does not guarantee you success unless you play well, Kumar opined. In this 10-nation competition, Indians are in Pool B alongwith Korea, Thailand, Kazakhstan and Indonesia and have a good chance to finish among the top two in the pool to make the semi-final cut. Pool 'A' comprises China, Japan, Malaysia, Hong Kong, China and Chinese Taipei.

Skipper Rani Rampal is also confident of performing well. "We all know that a title win here will get us direct entry into the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. "Winning gold in the Asian Games is not an easy task. A top podium finish in Indonesia will give us a direct entry to Olympics and it will help us prepare better for the Olympics," she said.

In nine previous editions of this event, (women's hockey made its debut in the Games way back in 1982 at Delhi) India have one gold, a silver and three bronze medals to its credit while they finished fourth four times. In the last edition of the Games at Incheon, the girls in blue had bagged a bronze.

India last won a gold in women's hockey in the 2002 Commonwealth Games. "We are going into the Asian Games after a strong performance in the World Cup which has given us a lot of confidence," Rani said.

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