Olympics hockey: Need to back our skills in tie against Germany, says Rani Rampal

Tokyo, July 25 (SocialNews.XYZ) Ahead of the Indian women's hockey team's Pool A clash against Germany on Monday, captain Rani Rampal said the side will take a lot of positives from the 5-1 defeat at the hands of the Netherlands on Saturday and "rectify the mistakes" in the second encounter at the Tokyo Olympic Games.

While India lost to the Dutch by a big margin, Germany defeated Great Britain 2-1 in their opening Pool A match on Sunday.

"We can definitely take a lot of positives from our first match. We played an aggressive brand of hockey, especially in the first half. We created many chances and also capitalised on one chance in the first quarter itself. We were in control for the better part of the match against the best side in the world and that has definitely raised our confidence," said Rani on the eve of the clash against the world No. 3 side.

Rani, who scored the only goal for India in their match against the Dutch, added that here teammates will have to be on top of their game to counter the Germans.

"Germany are a good side too. We have to be on top of our game. We have looked at the mistakes we made in our first match and we will try to rectify them in our next match. We have to stay positive and keep backing our skills throughout the competition."

Chief coach Sjoerd Marijne said that he had looked at the footage of their match against the Netherlands and noted down the key points they need to work on.

"We have watched the match against the Netherlands together and have spoken about the points we need to improve and we are currently focusing on that. Germany are also a very strong side. If we can be consistent during the whole match then the result will be better."

Source: IANS