Aim is to finish in top spot: Rani

She also added that the team has been working extremely hard in the national camp at Bhopal under the watchful eyes of Chief Coach Dutchmen Sjoerd Marijne and Analytical Coach Eric Wonink. Their training was also overseen by Hockey India's High Performance Director David John. "We were put through a rigorous training camp which began in the second week of January. We have worked a lot on our individual skill, brought in a few variations in our techniques to increase speed of play and the team has thoroughly enjoyed working under the new Coaches who are very specific in their approach and ensure every girl in the team knows their responsibilities and what is expected of them. Apart from emphasis on fitness, there was also special sessions for mental training and it has helped the team a lot," explained Rani.

The Series win against Belarus was a big confidence booster ahead of the World League Round 2, feels Deep Grace Ekka. She says, "This group has been together for a while now and we know each others’ strengths and weaknesses. I feel the Series win against Belarus was a big motivator. There were minor mistakes that we committed against Belarus and we worked on correcting those mistakes these past few weeks. Our primary goal is to qualify for the World League Semi Final and to do that our focus will not just be on attack and speed of play but also a lot of emphasis will be on our defensive structure."

Speaking about the women’s team progress over these past few weeks, the Chief Coach for Indian Senior Women's team Marijne said, "The team possess great skill to play fast but we have also emphasised a lot on defence because a good defence structure is what wins championships. We have worked on our own small targets and I am hopeful they will fetch us good results.”  

1. Savita 

3. Deep Grace Ekka 

6. Renuka Yadav 

8. Deepika 

11. Monika 

Forwards

16. Poonam Rani