Asian Games 2014: We want to win gold, qualify for Rio 2016, says Rani Rampal

How is the new rule of four quarters going to change the game?
See, it can be looked at both ways. It's tougher because the game will become faster, more intense and be more demanding on body. But if you look at it from the other angle then it could be a little easier too. We used to play for 35 minutes without a break. But now we play 15 minutes and then there's a two-minute break. The total playing time has decreased too, to 60 minutes from the earlier 70.

How do you see your team's chances here in Asian Games?
The women's hockey in Asia is a bit topsy-turvy. The Chinese are top ranked here with a world ranking of five and South Korea and Japan are also ahead of us. But on ground, I feel that Indians are not much behind all three of them and can beat anyone on their day. We are playing China, Malaysia and Thailand in our pool and that's what we're focussed on right now. We want to top the pool so that we can play semifinals with the second team of the other group.

Is a direct qualification to Rio Olympics 2016 your aim too, like the men's team?
Certainly, the winner here in the Asiad would get a direct ticket to Rio. All our girls are determined to give their best on field to win gold and subsequently qualify for the Olympics. So, every time we play, every match we play, we are not going to be complacent.

In last year's Asia Cup, India finished third behind Japan and South Korea. The win against China would have been heartening?
In modern game, the team which scores more on penalty-corners wins more games. It has become difficult nowadays to score field goals. Our coach Neil Hawgood has changed the way we play now. We attack more and together. And fall back on defence together when ball is lost to opponents. The other teams in the world also play like this and that's the reason the defences are generally packed. This has made it difficult for all teams to score field goals.

So, penalty corner conversion is the only solution?
Converting penalty corners gives you more opportunities to score in crunch games. We have been trying different variations in penalty corners to surprise our opponents. That's why there is no single drag flick expert in our team. There are separate players as drag-flicker, hitter or slapper, to suit different situations.

How much have you progressed in this area?
This is an ongoing process. There are different experts because we can't use the same variation against different teams. Otherwise, we'll become predictable. Every team now tries and sorts out opponents with the use of software. They watch video recordings in order to make advance strategy against them prior to the match.