Just as goalkeeper PR Sreejesh has been the backbone of the Indian men’s hockey team’s defence for over a decade, the women have been well served by Savita Punia under the bar.

With over 100 international caps across the last 10 years, goalkeeper Punia, 30, is one of the most experienced players in the Tokyo Olympics-bound Indian women’s team and hopes to make it count this time, unlike the poor outing the team had at Rio 2016. “We did not have a good tournament at Rio. We made quite a few mistakes, and I don’t want to even remember it now. It was the first Olympics for all of us and while we were proud that the Indian women’s hockey team had qualified for the Games after a gap of 36 years, we lacked the experience to perform on the biggest stage,” Punia said during a virtual media interaction recently.