Bengaluru: The Indian women’s hockey team will have eight new faces at the Tokyo Olympics as Hockey India announced the 16-member squad for the big event on Thursday. The squad boasts of a perfect balance eight from the 2016 Rio Olympics squad have also found their names for the flight to Tokyo.
The squad includes eight stalwarts in skipper Rani Rampal, Savita Punia, Deep Grace Ekka, Sushila Chanu Pukhrambam, Monika, Nikki Pradhan, Navjot Kaur and Vandana Katariya; who were there in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 — who collectively have 1,492 caps for India and will be tasked with leading the charge in their quest for Olympic glory.
The eight Olympic debutants include drag-flicker Gurjit Kaur, Udita, Nisha, Neha, Navneet Kaur, Sharmila Devi, Lalremsiami and Salima Tete. While Lalremsiami is the first from Mizoram in the side, Tete led India at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games at Buenos Aires to a silver medal performance.
Your Indian Women’s Hockey Team for #Tokyo2020 is here 🇮🇳
Are you excited? 🤩#IndiaKaGame #HaiTaiyyar #StrongerTogether #HockeyInvites #WeAreTeamIndia #Hockey pic.twitter.com/BOaogA1r5p
— Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) June 17, 2021
This will be India’s third appearance at the Olympics and their second consecutive outing, with previous appearances coming in 1980 and 2016. India have seen a steady rise over the past few years, clinching Olympic qualification for a historic second consecutive occasion on the back of their consistent performances in qualifying events.
Since Rio 2016, the team has experienced the highs of winning the 2016 Asian Champions Trophy, 2017 Asia Cup, silver medal at the 2018 Asian Games and making it to the quarterfinals of the 2018 Women’s World Cup for the first time in history.
Although India’s record in 2021 hasn’t been worthy in challenging tours to Germany and Argentina, the Rani-led side can be world-beaters any day. Head coach Sjoerd Marijne is confident of the team and is ready to take the best of the world in Tokyo.
“This team has worked very hard over the last few years and has made progress consistently. There’s a good mix of experienced players and new talent, which is excellent. We look forward to taking on the best in the world in Tokyo. This is a team with a lot of potentials and drives which we hope to channelise to our best performance yet,” he said.
The squad:
Goalkeeper
Savita Punia
Defenders
Deep Grace Ekka, Nikki Pradhan, Gurjit Kaur, Udita
Midfielders
Nisha, Neha Goyal, Sushila Chanu Pukhrambam, Monika, Navjot Kaur, Salima Tete
Forwards
Rani Rampal, Navneet Kaur, Lalremsiami, Vandana Katariya, Sharmila Devi
