'We can beat top teams like Argentina and Germany,' says India women's hockey captain Rani Rampal 

India women's hockey team returned to international competition in January after a year's break due to the pandemic. Though the team failed to register a win during their tours to Argentina or Germany, India captain Rani Rampal believes the experience will help them iron out the flaws.

"If we continuously work on fine details, we can beat them; they are not unbeatable," Rani Rampal told The Times of India.

"We got to play (after the pandemic forced break). It was special, especially Argentina and Germany who are World No.2 and 3

"Overall, these (Argentina and Germany) were good tours. I know everyone talks about results (but) we were playing after one year. During lockdown we could just work on fitness...So we first had to analyse (in a match situation) where we are fitness-wise, how much more we need to work on it, both practically and technically," Rampal added.

India had scored a dramatic win over USA in 2019 to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics. Having won the first leg 5-1, India just about managed to stave off a strong challenge from the American to score a 6-5 aggregate win. But the women, who made the Olympic cut for two editions in a row for the first time, couldn't carry that momentum into 2020 due to the Coronavirus outbreak.

"We are out of that zone now, as it was something we could do nothing about," Rampal said of the Tokyo Games being delayed by a year.

"I know a year back we were peaking well, we were hoping for a medal. That belief is still there because we built our mindset accordingly. Its difficult for an athlete to push himself or herself for another year at the same level. But definitely we have the belief that we don't want to just participate in the Olympics, rather we have to do something (big)."

But as the Indian women's team gears up for the Olympic Games this summer, and hopes to leave the nightmare of Rio 2016 behind, they want to play higher-ranked opponents.

"Its not easy playing the world No.2 and 3 teams, who we hadn't played against in the last few years. So we didn't have much idea about what style of play they will bring to the pitch," the 26-year-old said.

"These are the teams - Argentina, Germany, Holland and so on - who when we play against, we come to know whether we are working on the right track or not and how much more we need to work. We have to step ahead of the top teams. Both these teams (Argentina and Germany) mostly play the semis of Olympics and World Cups. We don't have the experience. So they know how to handle those moments (pressure)."

Rampal, however, believes that the gulf between the top European nations and the Indian women's team has reduced in the recent past.

"When we look at our team, then there is not a very big difference between us and those (top) teams. Earlier the gap between us and the European nations seemed bigger; but now when we play them, the difference seems smaller," she said.