JOIN USSenior defender Sushila Chanu will lead a 17-member Indian women’s hockey team in a four-nation tournament in Australia starting May 30.
The tournament, seen as preparation for the Rio Olympics, will feature hosts Australia, New Zealand and Japan.
While Sushila has been appointed as captain in place of regular skipper Ritu Rani, who has been rested, Deepika has been retained as the vice-captain.
The squad also has seniors players like Poonam Rani and Vanadana Kataria form the core group besides a few youngsters in defender Nikki Pradhan and 18-year-old midfielder Preeti Dubey, who was named the Asunta Lakra Upcoming Player of the Year Award (Women U-21) at the Hockey India Annual Awards earlier this year.
“It is a huge honour to be named captain of the squad for the tour,” said Sushila on being appointed the coach.
“We have already faced Japan and New Zealand earlier at the Hawke’s Bay Cup. Our aim will be to perform well against Japan and Australia and analyse their game at close quarters since they are in our pool at the Olympics,” she added.
With two of the three nations being pooled alongside India at the Rio Olympics, head coach Neil Hawgood is considering this as the best platform to test his girls against the best ahead of the Rio carnival.
“We are looking forward to the tournament. We are up against three world-class teams and it will help us immensely in our preparations ahead of the Rio Olympics. Additionally, two of those teams are in our Pool in Rio (Australia and Japan). This will serve as good practice,” he noted.
Squad: Goalkeepers: Savita, Rajani Etimarpu; Defenders: Deepika (VC), Sunita Lakra, Nikki Pradhan, Sushila Chanu Pukhrambam (C), Hnialum Lal Ruat Feli; Midfielders: Rani, Namita Toppo, Navjot Kaur, Monika Preeti Dubey, Renuka Yadav; Forwards: Poonam Rani, Vandana Katariya, Anuradha Devi Thokchom, Lilima Minz.