Looking at the line-up of the men's competition, India

will start as overwhelming favourites in the tournament, from where two teams will qualify for next stage i.E. Hockey World League Round 3 (semi-final league) to be held in the Netherlands and Malaysia between June 13 and July 7. Apart from India, the other participating nations in the men's competition are China, Ireland, Bangladesh, Oman and Fiji. The Indian skipper, however, sounded cautious. "In modern day hockey, we can't take any team lightly. We can't consider China easy and Ireland is a tricky side," Sardar said. "If we play our normal hockey and give 100 per cent we should win easily." Meanwhile, seeded second behind Japan, the Indian women's team has a relatively difficult task at hand compared to its male counterparts. But skipper Ritu Rani is upbeat about her team's chances in the women's event where Japan, Russia, Malaysia, Kazakhstan and Fiji are the other participating nations. "Our preparation is going very well. For the last one month the entire team is together. We have a relatively young team. "In trainings, we have been focussing mainly on penalty corners and scoring as many goals as possible. We are also working on conceding less penalty corners to the opposition teams," Rani said. "Japan is ahead of us in rankings so they will be a tough opponent. But our coach (Neil Hawgood) has been working very hard with us and it is now up to us to implement his strategies on the field," she added. While the Indian men's team will open their campaign against minnows Fiji on February 18, the eves will face Kazakhstan the same day.