Less than a month before they take on the U.S. in a two-legged playoff to determine who travels to the Tokyo Olympics, the Indian women's team received a shot in the arm with a creditable drawn series against Great Britain. The series that concluded a couple of days ago saw India win the first match, draw the next two, lose the fourth and be two goals up with five minutes to play in the final encounter before eventually settling for a draw against the defending Olympic champions.
The last time India had played the combined Great Britain team was at in the league phase of the 2016 Olympics. Back then India, who were playing at the Olympics after a 36-year-gap had been soundly beaten 3-0. "The big difference in our side from 2016 and this one is that we are far more fit and have more self-belief also. The biggest improvement has been in our fitness and self-confidence," says penalty corner specialist Gurjit Kaur.
Those points were echoed by captain Rani Rampal as well. "We have been working on our fitness for a long time so we were able to show how that side of our game has improved. Specifically in the third quarter, we are using our fitness to come back from a goal down (India came back from a goal down in the second game with a goal from Lalremsiami in the third quarter and also scored the winner in the last minute of the first game). And that is making it difficult for other teams because their fitness level starts to come down after the second and third quarter," says Rampal.
While the victory was heartening, Rampal says they had an eye on the upcoming double encounter against the U.S., a side that finished fifth at the Rio Olympics. "We were playing England, keeping the U.S. in the back of our mind. We were able to implement some of our tactics. Our main purpose was to play on the counter and we were able to do that. We were trying to make as many interceptions as possible and send the ball forward. Whenever we intercept we are trying to send the ball and put pressure and counter-attack," she says.
What Rampal will take confidence from is the fact that the tactics worked on were tested against a side that she says is similar to the one they will be playing in Bhubaneshwar at the end of the month. "There are similarities between U.S. and Great Britain. Physically they are quite similar. Great Britain has very strong defenders just like the U.S.. They play a tough and rough sort of game just like them. We got a chance to practise the tactics we want to play against U.S. against Great Britain. We had five very tough games to prepare ourselves," she says.
The team is taking a short break before they return to the national camp to prepare for the upcoming challenge which Rampal is adamant they will make count. "When we went to Rio, we had made history. This time also we don't want to wait for another 36 years before we qualify for the Olympics again. We want to create a rhythm where we qualify again and again and different players get the chance to take part in the Olympics experience," she says.