Bhubaneswar: A tricky contest awaits dor female Indian women's hockey team against USA in the two-legged Olympic qualifiers here on Friday. The Indian teams are just two matches away from booking its tickets to Tokyo.
Indian team will play back-to-back matches against USA on Friday and Saturday and the aggregate winners at the end of the two-match qualifier will seal their places in the 2020 Tokyo Games.
Women hockey team have a bad track record against world no. 13 USA as they have been beaten 22 times while managing to win only four matches.
But past records hardly matters in professional sport and the current Indian women's team, led by Rani Rampal, is a much-improved outfit from their predecessors.
For Indian women, besides skipper Rani, drag-flicker Gurjit Kaur, young forward Lalremsiami and goalkeeper Savita hold key to the team' fortune.
Besides handling USA, they also have to handle the crowd pressure as it is the first time that they will get to play in front of a packed 16,000 capacity Kalinga Stadium stadium here.
India women's team chief coach Sjoerd Marijne exuded confidence saying his wards are prepared for the contest.
"We are really excited. These are the two matches we waited to play the whole year. We knew we had to play these matches but didn't know whether we were playing home or away and against whom. We've prepared well. The moment is here and we are ready," he said.
India captain Rani echoed her coach's sentiment.
"Our first target to qualify for the Olympics was the Asian Games and unfortunately we couldn't. As soon as Asian Games got over, our focus shifted to these matches," she said.
"Through the year we have waited as well as prepared for these two matches. We are excited to play in front of a huge home crowd.
"I don't think we will be under any pressure. At the blow of the whistle our focus shifts to our plan on what we need to do. It is up to us on how we get the crowd on our side," Rani added.
