New Delhi, It's been a difficult time for the entire world in the last few months amid the Covid-19 pandemic, however, the Indian women's hockey team has been working towards their goal of winning an Olympic medal in whichever way they can. Defender Deep Grace Ekka has expressed that it has been her responsibility to ensure that the youngsters in the team remained motivated during this tough period.

"As a senior player in the team, I had to make sure that the youngsters are not too impacted and remain positive during this period. It's easy for negativity to set in during this time, but our group has done well to take each day as it comes," said Ekka.

"It's my duty to ensure that the youngsters remain motivated and they have done a great job. All of us focused on our fitness while we were away from the pitch and now, we are relishing our sports activities on the pitch," she added.

Ekka expressed that the Indian defence line has a fantastic balance of youth and experienced players which will certainly help the national side in big tournaments.

"It's great to have a great balance of youth and experienced players in our defence line. We are guiding the youngsters to get even better at their game and I am sure after a few months we will get even better as a defence unit. Having a great defence line always helps any team and if we are rock solid then it will be a huge benefit for the Indian team, especially in big tournaments like the Olympics," said the defender.

Ekka said the national side has been able to cope with this period only because of the immense support received from Hockey India and SAI.

"Hockey India and SAI have always treated us like family and they have helped us tremendously in the last few months. We had enough facilities at our disposal for our fitness training during the lockdown and now, we are able to practice for the Olympics only because of the efforts put in by Hockey India and SAI," said the 26-year-old.