‘WE ARE CONFIDENT OF QUALIFYING FOR OLYMPICS’

BHUBANESWAR: Midfielder Sushila Chanu is confident of the Indian women’s hockey team qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics as she feels the country has made a lot of improvement in the last three years.

The Indian team, which returned to the Olympic fold in Rio in 2016 after a gap of 36 years, plays against United States here on November 1 and 2 for a berth in next year’s Tokyo Games. “We know how it felt representing India at Olympics when we qualified for it after a 36-year gap in Rio. However, when we came back from that outing, there was a unanimous feeling around the group that we need to push ourselves and make sure we consistently put in the performances which will help us in qualifying for the next edition,” Sushila said.

“We have made huge strides from the previous Olympics, and now we are all very determined to secure our place in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics,” said the 26-yearold Sushila who captained the side in 2016 Rio Olympics.

It was a disastrous performance for India in the Rio Olympics as the team crashed out in the preliminary stage after losing four matches and drawing one to finish at the bottom of the group. “We have 10 players in this current side who were there in Rio as well, and all of us collectively want to experience that feeling again. Not just that, we want to win a medal for the country this time in Tokyo,” said the midfielder from Manipur. The world number 9 Indian team is currently training here at the Kalinga Hockey Stadium ahead of their Olympic Qualifiers against world number 13 USA.