Haryana girls power India’s Olympic dream

Haryana’s hand is quite visible in the Indian women hockey team’s success in the recently-concluded Hockey World League Semifinals in Antwerp.

Seven players in the squad that landed in New Delhi to a grand welcome on Monday belong to Haryana. Goalkeeper Savita Poonia, Poonam Rani (both from Hisar), captain Ritu Rani, Rani Rampal, Navjot Kaur (Shahbad), Deepika Thakur (Yamunanagar) and Monika (Sonepat) were the members of the team that finished fifth in the tournament.

The girls are on the threshold of securing an Olympic berth; they will, though, have to wait for the results of the two tournaments (EuroHockey Nations Championship in August and Oceania Cup in October) before getting the confirmation.

After Indian eves’ lone Olympic appearance in Moscow (1980), an invitational event, this is the first time that the team is on the doors of Olympic qualification. Hisar girl Savita Poonia displayed great skills under the bar. It was her heroic performance in the penalty shootout against Italy that secured a win for India. In the fifth-place match, Poonia saved five penalty corners against Japan to bring India closer to the Olympic dream.

“We were quite tense before the last match and knew such opportunities come rarely. It was a huge responsibility not to fluff this chance. Luckily, we managed to win. Our dream to qualify for Rio is on course,” Savita said from New Delhi.

Poonia was adjudged the best goalkeeper in the Eighth Women’s Asia Cup Hockey in 2013. She was also a part of the Indian team that won a bronze medal in the eighth Women’s Asia Cup Hockey in Kuala Lumpur in 2013. Savita’s coach Azad Malik congratulated the team on their success.