Rajbir Rai, who played for a record four Asian Games between 1982 and 1994, will now be the manager of the Doha Asian Games women team. Indian Women Hockey Federation has announded the team today, with Jothi Sunita Kullu as captain. Also in the management team is Neeta Dumre, former goalkeeper, as one of the Tournament’s Judges.
Interestingly, when Rajbir Rai played her last Asian Games, and Neeta Dumre in the 1993 Asia Cup, both at Hiroshima, current national coach M.K. Kaushik was also their coach.
Very surprisingly, the well-known physiotherapist Vikas Dhawan, who was with the team at Madrid World Cup, is not in the list. Delhi umpire Sunita Pant however is fortunate to have been selected as an umpire, her major breakthrough. It is pertinent to note here the IWHF has been promoting Shamshad Begum of Hyderabad and Chinnappa of Karnataka State till recently. But now it seems they fell out with the powers that be, whose slot Pant makes up now.
Indian Women Team for the Doha Asian Games:
Dipika Murty,
Marita Tirkey,
Suman Bala,
Binita Toppo,
Pushpa Pradhan,
Rajwinder Kaur,
Asunta Lakra,
Joydeep Kaur,
Subhadra Pradhan,
Surinder Kaur,
Jyoti Sunita Kullu (C),
Mamta Kharb,
Saba Anjum,
Jasjeet Kaur,
Binita Xess,
Ritu Rani.
Management team: M.K. Kaushik – National Coach,
Rajbeer Kaur – Manager,
Anurita Saini – Asstt. Coach,
A.B. Subbaiah – G.K. Coach,
Suraj Kumar – Physiotherapist. TECHNICAL OFFICIALS
Amrit Bose, Asstt. Tournament Director,
Neeta Dumre, Judge,
Sunita Pant, Umpire.