Hyderabad: Rani Rampal, India's women hockey team captain, grew up in a small village of Shahabad in Haryana's Kurukshetra district, harbouring dreams of winning an Olympic medal for India.
"Mera ek hi sapna hai ke ek Olympic medal chahiye," she says. (I have a dream to win an Olympic medal).
And she has given almost everything to make them come true. From becoming country's youngest player at the age of 14 to helping India qualify for the Olympics twice in a row, Rani is powered with match-altering capabilities to take her team home.
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Coming from a small village and considering family circumstances in my childhood days I never thought I will be able to reach at this stage where i am today. It was you Dad who made it possible with your sacrifices, support and motivation. Thank you Dad. #HappyFathersDay2021♥️ pic.twitter.com/ysqwq1cwub
— Rani Rampal (@imranirampal) June 20, 2021 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="
">Coming from a small village and considering family circumstances in my childhood days I never thought I will be able to reach at this stage where i am today. It was you Dad who made it possible with your sacrifices, support and motivation. Thank you Dad. #HappyFathersDay2021♥️ pic.twitter.com/ysqwq1cwub
— Rani Rampal (@imranirampal) June 20, 2021Coming from a small village and considering family circumstances in my childhood days I never thought I will be able to reach at this stage where i am today. It was you Dad who made it possible with your sacrifices, support and motivation. Thank you Dad. #HappyFathersDay2021♥️ pic.twitter.com/ysqwq1cwub
— Rani Rampal (@imranirampal) June 20, 2021
In less than three weeks now, she along with a bunch of exuberant youngsters are about to enter an arena where dreams come true -- world's grandest sporting spectacle, the Olympics.
While Rani understands that the expectations from the team are enormous, she is being realistic as well. The 26-year-old says, "Every team goes to the Olympics thinking of winning the medal. No team lets any of their opponents get away with a win that easily."
Even so, she is confident of team's good show.
Rani spoke to Etv Bharat and apprised about the preparations, difficulties faced during Covid and what the team has done to prepare itself physically and mentally for the Tokyo Games.
Excerpts:
Q. There has been a lot of talk about fitness. It has changed the team completely. What role do you think will it play in the Olympics?
A. The fitness has really improved over the years. We have worked extremely hard on it. We realised we weren't able to compete with other teams' fitness which has changed now. We can compete with anyone and any team. You have to maintain a fitness level especially for the Olympics because hockey is a fast game. Playing five matches is not easy. You need to achieve that level and we are training hard taking into consideration the level of fitness we need. A fit side always helps to maintain a good level in a high-intensity match.
Q. Do you think India can emerge as a dark horse considering the magnitude of pressure that the Olympics brings?
A. You can't really predict that a particular team will do well in an event as big as Olympics. They are all coming in with good training. They all are under huge pressure. It boils down to which team is able to handle pressure well and use their skills when it requires the most. That makes most of the difference. And yes, we believe that if we perform well, we should be able to win.
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Do you remember how @TheHockeyIndia women qualified for @Tokyo2020?
— International Hockey Federation (@FIH_Hockey) July 4, 2021 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="
Re-live the best moments from their 2019 FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifier fixture versus USA.
Visit https://t.co/2Ihh6ZvnCe for all the updates about Hockey at #Tokyo2020.#StrongerTogether #HockeyInvites pic.twitter.com/MRHBt72qv9
">Do you remember how @TheHockeyIndia women qualified for @Tokyo2020?
— International Hockey Federation (@FIH_Hockey) July 4, 2021
Re-live the best moments from their 2019 FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifier fixture versus USA.
Visit https://t.co/2Ihh6ZvnCe for all the updates about Hockey at #Tokyo2020.#StrongerTogether #HockeyInvites pic.twitter.com/MRHBt72qv9Do you remember how @TheHockeyIndia women qualified for @Tokyo2020?
— International Hockey Federation (@FIH_Hockey) July 4, 2021
Re-live the best moments from their 2019 FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifier fixture versus USA.
Visit https://t.co/2Ihh6ZvnCe for all the updates about Hockey at #Tokyo2020.#StrongerTogether #HockeyInvites pic.twitter.com/MRHBt72qv9
Q. In a tournament as big as Olympics, both physical and mental aspects come into play. What has been done to tackle pressure?
A. Our coaches have worked extremely hard on us. They have worked on how to stay in the present moment. Pressure is on everyone, you can't say someone isn't undergoing any pressure. I feel it should be there because it makes you feel that you have worked for something very hard and trained for it... you are excited about something. If that's not there, then you lack confidence whether you are ready for the big event or not. Pressure is going to be there, what you can do is focus on what you have to do rather than thinking about what's happening outside.
Q. How has the team that was affected by Covid dealt with it? You yourself were affected by it. Any difficulties during training?
A. It took me time to recover from Covid. I was in quarantine and had to follow all the required procedures related to it. It's not easy, especially for an athlete to remain confined to a room for 14 days. Hockey is an outdoor game and you have to be able to get out of your room to do various activities related to it. It got difficult because I started training gradually after 14 days of isolation. I wasn't even able to perform light training and it made me wonder how long it is going to take for me to get fit. My coaches gradually started planning on my training and players got into the groove with time and now we all are fully fit.
Q. Do you think lack of match practice due to Covid can affect team's performance?
A. We are aware that we couldn't play as many matches as we should have. Even when we played against Argentina and Germany, situation was not that good back then. India was badly affected by Covid but we still got to play those matches. And I am really thankful we got those matches. But nobody could have done anything as there were travel restrictions for Indian citizens. We thought we couldn't control what's happening but what we can do is change our mindset. We had to compete within the group so as to make each other better players and get prepared for the Olympics.
Q. What is the difference between the team that went to Rio Olympics and now?
A. We have a lot of belief we can beat any team now and achieve something in the Olympics. The last time we thought was our first Olympics and there was no one to guide us. We didn't have senior players who had played Olympics before. The last time we had the realisation that we had participated in Olympics, but this time it's different. It's about winning.
Q. What should the people of India expect from you?
A. Our aim is to clear the pool and reach the quarterfinals first. After that, it's anyone's game. Those who make the most of their chances will be on the winning side. Our first target is to reach the quarterfinals and then we will see how far we can go.
Q. Medal on the cards?
A. Every team goes to the Olympics thinking of winning the medal. Nobody thinks that they will participate in the Olympics to lose. Sometimes you know you have a good team but on a given day, your opponent might be having a good day and play better hockey than you. You or the other team may commit a mistake that might end up costing the game for them. You never know. No team lets any of their opponents get away victorious that easily.
Q. What do you want to achieve for this team?
A. I want a good career-ending. I have a dream of winning an Olympic medal or World Cup before I hang up my boots. Every player dreams of that. It's not necessary whether I am in the team or not but I want them to see on the Olympic podium and I believe we can do it. Some great talents are coming into the team. Mera ek hi sapna hai ke ek Olympic medal chahiye (I have a dream to win an Olympic medal).
-- Ayushmaan Pandey
