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India’s women's hockey team for the Tokyo Olympics is a perfect blend of youth and experience. The 16-member squad, announced on June 17, will have eight members who have been a part of the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics campaign and eight new faces excited to don the national colors in the prestigious Olympics for the first time.
Read: Tokyo Olympics: Australia name men’s and women’s 16-member hockey squads
The Indian women's hockey squad strikes a perfect balance with the eight veterans having played more than a thousand matches amongst them. Their experience will come in handy for young guns to soak in the pressure and perform in what is one of the biggest stages of world sport.
India's women hockey team has worked hard, says coach
India’s women hockey team’s chief coach Sjoerd Marijne said the team has worked hard over the last few years and has made consistent progress.
“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 potential and drive which we hope to channelise to our best performance yet,” the Dutchman said.
Rani Rampal, Savita Punia, Deep Grace Ekka, Sushila Chanu, Monika Malik, Nikki Prahdan, Navjot Kaur, and Vandana Katariya are the experienced faces in the women's hockey squad. India has played at the Olympics only twice earlier – in 1980 and 2016 – and would be hoping for a better outing the third time.
Also read: Indian women's coach Sjoerd Marijne confident of a good show at Tokyo Olympics
India’s women hockey team has had a steady rise in talent over the last few years. Apart from qualifying for the Olympics for the second consecutive time, the team won the Asian Champions Trophy in 2016 and the Asia Cup in 2017. They also played well in the Asian Games in 2018 and the Women’s World Cup in 2018.
India lost the Asian Games final to Japan 1-2 while at the Women’s World Cup, India lost to Ireland 3-1 on penalties after they were tied 0-0 at the end of regulation time.
India's women's hockey team will also have the first player from Mizoram, Lalremsiami, playing in the team. She has been a part of the Asian Games and the World Cup squad and playing at the highest level is not new to the Mizo player.
The women's team has been preparing well at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) training center in Bengaluru under the watchful eyes of chief coach Sjoerd Marijne. The team had a good first half of the year with successful tours to Argentina and Germany along with high-intensity training back home.
With this perfect blend of youth and experience, the Indian women’s hockey team is all set to have a fruitful Tokyo Olympics sojourn.
Indian women hockey squad for Tokyo Olympics
Goalkeepers: Savita Punia
Defenders: Deep Grace Ekka, Nikki Pradhan, Gurjit Kaur, Udita Duhan.
Midfielders: Nisha Devi, Neha Goyal, Sushila Chanu Pukhrambam, Monika Malik, Navjot Kaur, Salima Tete.
Forwards: Rani Rampal, Navneet Kaur, Lalremsiami, Vandana Katariya, Sharmila Devi.
