Chandigarh, January 10: Ahead of her team's campaign opener in the women's Hockey India League (HIL), the Indian hockey goalkeeper and Soorma Hockey Club player Savita Punia opened up on her team's equation with the mentor and former Indian captain Rani Rampal and expressed happiness about having experienced defender Nikki Pradhan in the team.
The inaugural edition of the women's Hockey India League will start from January 12 this year with the final scheduled for January 26, which marks country's Republic Day. The four-team affair will be held in Ranchi and Rourkela. Soorma Hockey Club will play Rarh Bengal Tigers in the campaign opener at January 13 in Ranchi.
Speaking to ANI about the appointment of Rani Rampal as mentor, Savita said, "She was my teammate for a long time. When a former player becomes a mentor, they share a lot of things with players, such as what one feels before a game, and what one needs to achieve in the tournament. It helps the younger players a lot. She is heavily involved and tries to young players as much as possible so that they mix up well with foreigners and play well with them. She also focuses on strikers too."
Savita is pretty excited for the tournament to start and said that the wait for it was a long one.
Further elaborating on the training process so far, she said, "All the Indian players in the team reported on December 27 and the overseas players arrived on January 2. The training we all Indian players had was great. Then came the foreigners and we had some sessions with them too. We also played two matches with the men's team. They were highly intense. The combinations look nice and so is the coordination among the players. We are doing good preparation-wise."
The star goalkeeper is also happy to have Nikki Pradhan, the defender and national team captain Salima Tete in the team, noting it would help the team in communicating strategies and plans better which will lead to better performances.
"I am happy to have Nikki in the squad because being a goalkeeper, you want a fine defender in your team. When I got to know we are in the same team, we both told each other that we were happy. We, Nikki and Grace (Deep Grace Ekka) have played a lot of games together. As a goalkeeper, you need players with who you can communicate well, play well. Jyoti, Vaishnavi and Salima, all the Indian main players are here so it feels good. It would help in better communication and performance. There is good coordination among us while playing for India too. We also try helping younger talent too," she said.
Savita also feels that playing with top overseas talent will lead to healthy knowledge transfer. Sharing everything from the dressing room, to the field, to the dinner table will also raise the standards of play for India and enhance the confidence of youngsters. She also revealed that overseas players are fans of Indian-style tea.
"We tell our juniors to learn the tricks from them. We are all a Soorma team indeed. We are together as one. It feels good. They have the same energy and excitement about the Hockey India League and doing well in it. It changed the fortunes of men's players, we also want to help youngsters so that their performances improve. If youngsters share dinner table, dressing room and field with foreigners, it would help them a lot. Players will have to open up. Our coach also wants us to have a fine equation with each other. They love our Indian chai. We spend a lot of time together, have food, and tea and go to malls," she said.
She also feels that the Hockey India League will contribute to India's improved performance in the Los Angeles Olympics 2028 and perhaps help them secure a gold too. But she also feels HIL alone would not do anything, it is up to players to work hard too.
"Indeed (if HIL will improve Olympic results). In the last 5-6 years, our mindfulness sessions have helped us a lot. We need to work really hard and then results will come out. It is not like only HIL will help us achieve big things. This tournament will help players play better under pressure. We often ask big players from other countries about their mentality and methods in pressure situations and big matches," she concluded.
