We have a well-settled team going into the FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifiers Odisha, says Indian Women's Hockey Team Vice-Captain Savita

Bengaluru, 14 September 2019: With the Indian Women's Hockey team being drawn against USA in their FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifiers Odisha earlier this week on Monday when the draw took place at the headquarters of the International Hockey Federation (FIH) in Lausanne, Switzerland, their Vice-Captain and Goalkeeper Savita believes that having a well-settled team will definitely help them in excelling against USA in the Qualifiers in November 2019 in Bhubaneswar.

"Most of the players selected for our upcoming Tour of England have played together as a unit for a long time now. We have a well-settled unit as we understand each other's game pretty well which will further help us against USA at the Olympic qualifiers. It has been our aim to qualify once again for the Tokyo Olympics 2020 after having qualified for the 2016 edition after a gap of 36 years. We are all very determined about succeeding in the FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifiers Odisha and the upcoming matches against Great Britain will be good preparation for that" stated Savita.

The Indian Women's Hockey Team is scheduled to play five matches against a strong Great Britain team in Marlow, England from 27th September - 4th October 2019, and India's ace goalkeeper believes that they will get to face a side similar to that of USA's. "Great Britain and USA have quite similar playing styles, and all of us are really pleased that we will be playing against Great Britain before the two huge matches in November. The girls have been sweating it out in training for the past two weeks, and I am really confident that we will be able to execute our plans well. We have some really experienced players in our squad and the ones who have recently come in are full of talent and potential, so I am really looking forward to a great couple of months for us," stated the Goalkeeper from Haryana.

"When it comes to the Goalkeeping options also, Rajani (Etimarpu) and I have been playing together in the team for a long time now, and we support each other with our game. We are really close to each other as well, and it also helps when she gives me inputs by watching me from off the field, and I do the same for her when she is playing. We enjoy each other's success and that is the most important thing in a team sport, and hopefully it will help our team in qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics 2020 later this year," signed off Savita.