Injury recovered Poonam and Dipika returns to core group

Bengaluru, 26 September 2017: Being in the sidelines for almost three months due to injury, the star duo of Poonam Rani and Dipika return to national core group, even as new coach in Harendra Singh officially takes charge of the team in SAI, Bengaluru today.

Harendra made it clear that winning Asia Cup is first goal as Chief Coach
The ninth Asia Cup will be held next month in Gifu, Japan. The winner will qualify for the London World Cup 2018.

After a strong performance by the Indian girls in their Europe tour — where they played against the Belgium Junior Men as well as the Den Bosch, a premier hockey club in the Netherlands which consists of over nine Dutch national players — the 33 campers reported at the Sports Authority of India, Bengaluru for a four-week national camp that will conclude on October 24.

During the course of the camp, selection trials will be conducted under the purview of national selectors, David John, Director, High Performance, Hockey India and newly appointed Indian Women’s Team Chief Coach Harendra Singh, to pick up an 18-member squad for the Asia Cup Women 2017.

“Though newly appointed Chief Coach Harendra Singh is very well acquainted with all the women in the national camp, a formal handing over of the team happened this morning. The Indian Women’s team have done well against the Junior Belgium Men’s team, where India played a men’s team for the first time. I believe the team has shown improvement. The Asia Cup is an important tournament for the women to win a direct berth for the World Cup next year. In my opinion, they go into Asia Cup as No.1 side and I definitely expect them to finish in the final,” expressed David John, Director, High Performance, Hockey India.

On taking over the reins of the team for the first time in his coaching career that spans over 19 years, Harendra Singh known for his taskmaster-approach said discipline and result-oriented performance will be his priority.

“This is the first time in my career that I would be coaching a women’s side and I see this as a new challenge. Discipline and committing 100 per cent to the team’s goals will remain a top priority. I have followed this group of girls for a while now and they have a strong base, they are focused and understand each other’s strengths and weaknesses after having played together for three to four years. I would like to see them go into every tournament as tough contenders for a medal.”

Under Harendra, the Women’s team’s first big tournament will be the Asia Cup Women 2017. The trials to pick the 18-member squad will be held on October 4th and 5th in Bengaluru.

“We have already set short term and long term goals for the team. While short term goal is to win the Asia Cup Women 2017 and directly qualify for the World Cup next year, my mission for 2018 is to win the Asian Games and qualify for the Tokyo Olympics. I believe this is a realistic target,” emphasized Harendra.

Women Campers:

Goalkeepers
1. Savita
2. Rajani Etimarpu
3. Swati

Defenders

4. Deep Grace Ekka
5. P Sushila Chanu
6. Sunita Lakra
7. Gurjit Kaur
8. Hnialum Lal Ruat Feli

9. Navdeep Kaur
10. Rashmita Minz

11. Neelu Dadiya

Midfielders


12. Namita Toppo
13. Nikki Pradhan
14. Deepika
15. Karishma Yadav
16. Renuka Yadav
17. Navjot Kaur
18. Monika
19. Lilima Minz
20. Neha Goyal
21. Udita
22. M Lily Chanu

23. Nilanjali Rai

Forwards

24. Rani
25. Vandana Katariya
26. Preeti Dubey
27. Reena Khokhar
28. Anupa Barla
29. Sonika
30. Lalremsiami
31. Poonam Rani
32. Navneet Kaur
33. Navpreet Kaur