Indian Women's Hockey Team Set to Return to Bengaluru National Camp Ahead of New Season

With some key tournaments ahead in 2023, the Indian women’s hockey team is all set to come back to the National Camp to kick off their preparations for the events, building up on the good show in the previous year.

The team is high on confidence after recently winning the inaugural edition of the 2022 FIH Women’s Nations Cup in Spain and securing qualification for the 2023-24 FIH Hockey Women’s Pro League, Hockey India informed in a release on Friday.

Hockey India have named 33 players as the Core Probables Group for the National Camp beginning January 2 to 13 when the players will be putting in the hard yards to further fine-tune their strategies and combinations, starting with the upcoming tour of South Africa beginning January 14 and going on till January 28.

The core group for the national camp includes the experienced goalkeeper Savita, Rajani Etimarpu, Bichu Devi Kharibam and Bansari Solanki. Among the defenders named for the camp are Deep Grace Ekka, Gurjit Kaur, Nikki Pradhan, Ishika Chaudhary, Akshta Abaso Dhekale, Udita, Reet and Mahima Chaudhary.

The Indian women’s hockey team, which defeated Spain in the final of the 2022 FIH Women’s Nations Cup in Valencia, had been on a short break after the tournament before they returned to the National Camp at SAI in Bangalore.

“The team has had a rejuvenating break and is all geared up to get back to work on our plans and goals for 2023. We aim to have good exposure over the coming months for the team aiming towards effective preparation ahead of the Asian Games Hangzhou 2022 which is the key event of the year. The focus of the camp is to allow the team to learn more about themselves, and work on their strengths further,” said Chief Coach Janneke Schopman.

Core Probables Group:

Goalkeeper: Savita, Rajani Etimarpu, Bichu Devi Kharibam, Bansari Solanki; Defenders: Deep Grace Ekka, Gurjit Kaur, Nikki Pradhan, Udita, Ishika Chaudhary, Akshta Abaso Dhekale, Reet, Mahima Chaudhary; Midfielders: Nisha, Salima Tete, Sushila Chanu Pukhrambam, Jyoti, Navjot Kaur, Monika, Mariana Kujur, Sonika, Neha, Baljeet Kaur, Reena Khokhar, Vaishnavi Vitthal Phalke, Ajmina Kujur; Forwards: Lalremsiami, Navneet Kaur, Vandana Katariya, Sharmila Devi, Deepika, Sangita Kumari, Rani, Beauty Dungdung.