Amidst the hush of CWG extravaganza, Indian women’s hockey team captain Savita Punia and vice-captain Deep Ekka Grace took time out to interact with The Daily Guardian. Excerpts
Q. Savita, tell us about your preps for your tournament opener against Ghana.
A. Our preparations are going very well. We used it in our practice for whatever time we had after the World Cup. We have also played a practice match with Scotland. We have worked more on what we are better at. Also, we have worked on our mistakes. I think we are ready against Ghana.
Q. This is your third CWG game are you excited about this?
A. We are ready for the Commonwealth Games. This is my third Commonwealth game. I am very excited about this.
Q. Savita after the world cup what positives did you draw from it both mentally and in context to the game?
A. Our goal in the World Cup was something else. But the performance of our team was something else. We didn’t deserve the position we were in at the end of the World Cup. We gave our full performance in every match. We got a lot of chances to score which we could not capitalize on. We have worked on corner attack and defence. We worked more on what we did well in the World Cup and even more on the mistakes we made.
Q. Savita, recently you were made the captain of the Indian women’s hockey team, previously you were a free bird. Is there pressure of aligning both the roles of goalkeeper and captaincy?
A. Even as a player before the captain, there was lot of pressure on the field. We learn to handle that pressure from the beginning. After becoming the captain, there is a huge responsibility to fulfil. There are many senior players in the team. Every player has his own role. If a player’s game is bad, then we have to work more on building up the confidence to perform better in future. Before the captain, I am a player as well as a goalkeeper. I don’t let the pressure of captaincy on the field dominate the game.