The Indian women's team will look to cash in on home advantage and secure a ticket to Paris as it faces the USA in its FIH Olympic Qualifiers opener here on Saturday.

Hosts India, Germany, Czech Republic, Italy, Japan, US, Chile and New Zealand are the eight teams vying for the top three slots here to book their Paris berths.

World No. 5 Germany are the highest-ranked team in the tournament, while India are a rung below.

Since 1983, India and the US have played against each other 15 times, out of which the Americans came out victorious on nine occasions and the Indians on just four with two matches ending in draws.

"We did not qualify for the Olympics from the Asian Games and we know it was a missed opportunity. But we don't dwell on the past," India's chief coach Janneke Schopman said at the pre-tournament press conference.

"We are hoping to do well in this tournament. We need to be better (than before) and if we play to our best, we can qualify for the Olympics."

The build-up to the tournament has been far from rosy for the Indians with veteran striker Vandana Katariya being ruled out just nine days prior to kick-off after fracturing her cheekbone during a training session.

Going forward, the Indians will look to improve their penalty conversion rate which has been a problem area for long.