On the eve of Indian women’s hockey team taking on top notch Germany in the four-match series start tomorrow at Dusseldorf, captain Rani Rampal feels that the team’s skill to fitness will be put into severe test, as their rivals are notches above them in the world ranking.

Indian team for Germany Series 2021

The Khel Ratna awardee said: “It is going to be a totally different experience than the Argentina tour which we undertook recently. Here in Germany from our skills to fitness level, everything will be tested. That’s exactly what we as a team also in need of. It will be a challenging tour as we play back-to-back matches twice. Our priority, for now, is to get into that competitive frame of mind. The experience of playing against a top team like Germany will really add value to our preparations for the Olympic Games.

India’s sporting queen Rani also compared recent Argentina tour with the Germany one. “Argentina are world number two team, the tour thus helped us gain the confidence. We are now pumped up. Germany is world No. 3. We are just months away from the Tokyo Olympics, and this kind of contests against top teams will help us finding loopholes and gain momentum before the Games. We are looking forward to making the most out of the tour.”

The players and the support staff will be under the bio-secure bubble environ. Rani says now this has been an accepted and acclimatized one.

“Bio-bubble isn’t a fuss for us anymore. We are now prepared to live under such circumstances because that’s the only way in order to keep the action going. When we step on to the field, I don’t think it plays in our mind. The only thing which is in our minds right now is the Olympics,” concluded Rani.

Indian Women’s Hockey Team will kickstart the proceedings on 27th February (Saturday) at 1630hrs IST. The eves will play their second match of the tour on 28th February and after a day’s break, they will play two back-to-back games on 2nd and 3rd March 2021, respectively.