Self-belief drives the team, says Indian women's hockey team captain Rani Rampal ahead of semifinal showdown against Argentina

Indian women’s hockey team skipper Rani said self-belief drives the team to reach greater heights. As the Indian women’s hockey team get ready to take on Argentina in their 2021 Olympics semi-final, Rani said she was proud of her team who have left no stone unturned in achieving a historic feat in Tokyo this summer.

It is the first time that the Indian women’s hockey team will be playing in the last four of an Olympics. The Indian women’s hockey team were in tatters in the group stage after losing their first three matches. However, they pulled up their socks in time to win the next two to occupy the last quarter-final berth.

Read: India vs Argentina women's hockey semifinals: Preview, prediction, when and where to watch (IST)

Check Out: Tokyo Olympics Hockey Schedule

While that seemed like a huge achievement, the Rani-led team added to that by beating Australia in the last eight with a sublime performance. They were menacing in attack and stingy in defense, a stark improvement on their early Olympics form.

As the Indian women’s hockey team prepare to take on Argentina, skipper Rani said she is proud of her team for delivering when it mattered. She told FIH:

“I don't know what to say because emotions are too high (after they beat Australia), and we all are very happy because it was not an easy game to win from Australia. But I'm super proud of my team; each one of them really worked so hard throughout the game. And we just said one thing to each other, 'Just believe in ourselves, we can do this well.'”

Odisha vividly remembers the day when @TheHockeyIndia men and women booked their tickets to #Tokyo2020 here at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar.Now both the teams are set to play their semi-finals at the biggest sporting extravaganza.Congratulations and all the best #TeamIndia! pic.twitter.com/MLn4qh7vve

— Odisha Sports (@sports_odisha) August 2, 2021

Dreams come true for Indian hockey team

The Indian women’s hockey team had a long camp at the Sports Authority of India Center (SAI) in Bengaluru but were deprived of practice or competitive matches. However, the team utilized the time to prep up their skills. Chief coach Sjoerd Marijne said:

“We didn't have a lot of practice matches before the Olympics so we kept telling the girls to improve with every match. We focussed on every individual improving her performance and if the personal performances are better than the performance of the team will be better."

"We knew that we had to learn from every match that we play since we didn't have a lot of games leading into the competition. After we lost 1-5 to the Netherlands, it looked as if everything was shattered, it wasn't. We only needed to make a few small improvements.”

The Indian women’s hockey team were brilliant defensively and made sure they held tight when defending penalty corners, an area where the team was found wanting in the recent past.

The coach concurred with the captain and said that it was all about self-belief and dreaming about making inroads. He explained:

“I told the girls to just play freely. The pressure is on the other team (in quarter-finals) and that's really important to know. The matches are really difficult for the teams who are higher ranked. And I wanted the players to be proud of themselves today, regardless of the result. And I told the players that at the end of the match, they shouldn't feel their legs after running so much on the pitch."

Speaking after their win against Australia, the coach said:

"We defended well today. The defensive structure during penalty corners was very good. This match also proves dreams can come true. If you start believing and you keep believing and you keep working hard, things can happen. You have to do the work to fulfill your dreams and that's what we did today."

The Indian women’s hockey team will take on Argentina, ranked fifth in the world, in the semi-final on Wednesdat.