BHUBANESWAR: Manpreet Singh and Rani Rampal will lead the men’s and women’s hockey teams for the Olympic qualifiers, at Kalinga Stadium on November 1 and 2. The 18-strong squads are on expected lines, with both teams having a settled look. While the men start favourites against Russia, the women face a challenging ask against USA to punch their Tokyo ticket. To ensure they don’t chop and change unnecessarily, they have retained the same squad that did well against world champions England last month.
“I feel it is important to stay in the rhythm with the same players who performed well in the preparatory tour,” said women’s coach Sjoerd Marijne. “We now focus on making sure that we leave no stone unturned.”Rani spoke on similar lines. “The team is in good form. The same players had a good tour of England. Our focus right now is Tokyo.”
But that won’t be easy. US (World No 13) maybe ranked four rungs below India, but they have the experience and nous to stage an upset. The men’s team, at least on paper, don’t have such problems. The last time they faced Russia (at the same stadium in June), they won 10-0. Manpreet said he was confident of qualifying. “We never consider the capacity and capability of the teams on basis of their rankings. This will be the last chance to get into the Olympics. We have prepared well.”