Tokyo Olympics opportunity for Indian women's hockey team to make history: Savita Punia

Indian women's hockey team goalkeeper Savita Punia believes that the team has an opportunity to make history at the next year's Tokyo Olympic. Savita, who has been playing for India for the last 12 years in a statement said that her goal is to perform exceptionally well for her team and keep behind the nightmares of the Rio Olympics. She said the best in her is yet to come. Savita further added that the team in Rio Olympics was relatively raw and lacked experience, however, now she believes that it can really perform well in the next Olympics. 

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"We have been doing our homework for the past couple of months where we have been studying and analyzing various aspects of our's and our opponents'' game. It has been really good to hear about the return of hockey in some countries including New Zealand, and I speak for my entire team when I say that we cannot wait to get back to playing competitive hockey against the top nations," Savita said.

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Olympics qualifier

Tokyo Olympics was scheduled to begin this year in July but was later postponed until 2021 keeping in mind the coronavirus pandemic. Indian women's hockey team qualified for the 2020 Olympics after defeating the United States in the qualifier held in Bhubaneswar last year. The nail-biting aggregate matches ended with a result of 6-5 in India's favour. Prior to this, India had defeated Japan 2-1 in last year's Olympics test event finals in Tokyo. Both men and women's hockey teams are currently stationed at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) facility in Bengaluru. 

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(With inputs from agencies)