Rio 2016: It took us 36 years to qualify for one Oly, we don't want to take 36 years to qualify for another, says Rani Rampal

The women's team bagged an Olympic spot after a 36-year wait. You must be really looking forward to the next couple of weeks, aren't you?

It's a big achievement for Indian hockey. Along with the men, even the women will play for the country at the Olympics, and that's a huge thing for us. We're all really excited. At the same time, there is pressure as well because none of us have any past experience of the Olympics. But we hope to do our best there and create another set of achievements in Indian hockey.

Is there a sense of pride already within the players even before the Olympics begin, having achieved what no Indian women's hockey team has been able to do in 36 years?

Not really. We're looking at it this way: it took us 36 years to qualify for one Olympics, we don't want to take 36 years to qualify for another. We want to maintain our level this way from now on. That's how we are thinking. If we have performed at a certain level in a tournament, we want to take it a step higher in the next one, not go backwards.

So, is showing a certain level of consistency something that you're looking at in Rio and the years ahead?

We hope to remain consistent. Otherwise, it will get really difficult for the growth of women's hockey in India. We look at the men's team, and we're inspired with the medals that they have won in big tournaments, more recently the silver in Champions Trophy (in June). Even we want to do that, even we want to be there. We want to do that for our sport, for Indian hockey, and for the future generation of women hockey players.

How much of a learning curve will the Games be for senior players like you as well as the juniors?

Even for the senior players in the team, this will be their first Olympic experience. So, we will get to learn a lot about how to handle pressure, how to perform at a big stage. There will be a lot of learn in the two weeks that we will be there, which will help us in the years to come.

India will be the lowest-ranked country in the women's competition. Realistically, what target has the team set for itself in Rio?

There's one thing we are absolutely certain about, and that is that we don't want to go there and rest on our laurels of just making it to the Olympics. Our first aim will be to make the quarterfinals, and from there on, we will see if we can take our performances a couple of levels higher.

The team played some friendlies against USA and Canada before you landed in Rio. How has the preparation been?

The preparations have been really good. Over the last six-seven months, we have played some good tournaments as well as some bad tournaments. We're working on the mistakes that we did there. We hope to do our best in Rio. We want to compete at our best against the best.