CHENNAI: At the age of 22, leading the India side in the recently concluded World League Semifinal at Johannesburg was not an easy task. But skipper Rani Rampal believes the exposure was an eye-opener and says the team is fine-tuning the mistakes. She hopes India will put up a more improved showing in the upcoming tournament in Netherlands.
“It was a good learning curve for the team. Specifically, the team is looking to improve on two aspects. One, penalty corner conversion and two, launching counter attacks. We felt we had to score more goals to stay in the hunt,” says the Harayna-born player.
With a draw and win over South Africa and Chile respectively, India was very much on the race in the World League. But after that, they lost momentum as they failed to make a mark in the rest of the matches, finishing eighth in the tournament. When asked about what went wrong, Rani says the team failed to capitalise when opportunities were presented to them.
“If you see the match against England in the quarterfinals, we had more chances than them. We had six-seven short corners and we didn’t convert them.They are the third-placed team. If we have to dominate the tournament, we have to win more matches. Until we score goals, we can’t win games just being defensive. If we had won that match, perhaps the situation would have been different.
“But we learnt that we can put up a tough fight against teams like South Africa, USA and England. It’s a matter of utilising the chances and converting them. At the same time, we have to be 100 percent, to try not to give them the opportunity to score.”
The skipper reserved special praise for Savita Punia for her stupendous keeping skills. “Savita was brilliant throughout the tournament. She saved a lot of goals. She sets an example for others and I’m proud to be playing alongside her.” Rani also credited the role of coach Sjoerd Marijne, who has been with the team for almost six months now. “His knowledge about the game is vast. It’s just a matter of time for any new coach or player to adapt to the team environment. I hope we will be able to perform well in Netherlands.”
srinidhi@newindianexpress.com