New Delhi: Hockey India (HI) on Wednesday named 21 players for the Junior womens national camp starting Thursday at the Eklavya Sports Stadium in Agra.
The players will train together till February 24.
Among the national campers Bichu Devi Kharibam of the MP Hockey Academy, Salima Tete and Sangita Kumari of Hockey Jharkhand, Mumtaz Khan of Hockey Uttar Pradesh were part of the India ‘A’ team, who participated in the Australian Hockey League (AHL) in Perth last year.
While Preeti and Chetan Rathi are from the National Hockey Academy based in Delhi, the rest of the 19 players were part of the junior core group.
With the Youth Olympic Games qualifiers slated to be held in April in Bangkok, Hockey India will be watching the progress of these young women closely.
“This is a preparation camp for the Youth Olympic Games qualifiers. Since the event will be five-a-side hockey, we will be looking at selecting a team of 12 players plus four stand-by players,” HI’s High Performance Director David John said.
The camp will be held on India’s first ever five-a-side turf developed at the Eklavya Sports Stadium in Agra.
“It will be an ideal training facility as it’s built to FIH specifications. It is India’s first five-a-side hockey pitch and we will have coach Erik Wonink, who comes with the expertise in this format of hockey training the women in Agra,” John added.
National Campers List:
Goalkeepers: Khushboo, Bichu Devi Kharibam.
Defenders: Priyanka, Salima Tete, Umra, Antim, Ishika Choudhary.
Mid-fielders: Manju Chorsiya, Baljeet Kaur, Sadhna Senger, Jiwan Kishori Toppo, Primanjali Toppo, Chetan Rathi, Preeti.
Forwards: Sangita Kumari, Deepika Soreng, Mumtaz Khan, Lal Rindiki, Janhabi Pradhan, Amritpal Kaur, Reet.(IANS)
